The Springtime Mail Order Bride (10 page)

“Nothing happened last night!”

She turned. “Why don’t we let your wife decide ...” With a smirk she sashayed to her buggy, climbed in, and with a flick of the reins, started off. 

He watched her cross the field, then head to the woods.  There was a small road his pa had made years ago that led into those woods behind the cabin, and it wasn’t so overgrown that the Bridgers couldn’t get back t
here and make camp in order to check out the land and start building.  At least according to Olivia. Arlan was so caught up in her little missing horse escapade last night that he hadn’t had time to speak with Mr. Bridger on the subject. But he’d be sure to do it quick-like. He did not want that venomous flirt as a neighbor. She’d be nothing but trouble the entire time, and if she wasn’t trying to get her claws into him, she’d no doubt go after one of his brothers. Perhaps even all three!

Arlan stomped across the field and into the orchard, his face red with anger at the whole situation.  He remembered the look on Samijo’s face when she first opened the bedroom door, the way she
stormed right up to Olivia to slap her, but thought better of it. Now that he himself thought on it, he wished she had.

The farmhouse came into view, and he was going to have to think of the best way to explain to his wife what happened. She saw far too much in too short a time to be able to think things through. She could only react. He supposed if he was new to the ways of
love, that he’d be beyond angry if their situations were reversed. But he wasn’t new to love. He’d had some experience with it, though not much. After all, a twelve year old’s infatuation with his school- teacher didn’t exactly make him an expert, but he remembered how jealous he was when he saw her paying attention to Mr. Wilkes the blacksmith one day.  How much more so a new bride watching her husband get kissed by a beautiful woman who he’d been out with all night?  How was he going to explain to Samijo that Olivia had him as fooled at first as the rest of her family with her falsehoods? What ever he was going to tell her, he’d better think of it fast. He was at the kitchen door. 

He opened it slowly and poked his head inside. “Samijo?” Nothing, the house was silent. “Ma?” Still, no answer. Arlan stepped inside and glanced around the kitchen before inspecting the parlor. Where were they? He then heard a noise from upstairs. “Oh no,” he said to himself. He went into the front hall to the stairs, and took them two at a time to the landing. The door to his mother’s room was open, the door next to it closed. It was the spare bedroom, his old one to be exact. The twins had always shared a room and still did.  If his mother had Samijo in his old room, it could mean only one thing.

She was planning on having Samijo stay awhile.

Arlan took a deep breath, went to the door, and knocked. After a brief moment, his mother poked her head out. “Ma …”

“Don’t you Ma me! You get on out of here and get your chores done, maybe by the time you’re finished,
your poor wife will be speaking to you again.”

“Ma, let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain, now scoot!”

Arlan closed his eyes as his jaw tightened.
“Ma, you don’t understand.”

“I understand more than you think. Now go.”

He sighed in exasperation, threw his hands up in the air, and left.  Maybe his mother was right, and by the time he came in for lunch, Samijo’s temper would have simmered down and he could speak with her.

But Samijo never came down for lunch. Nor did she come down for dinner, and when it came time for Arlan to go home, he did so alone.

Ten

Samijo stared at the door to her room, and wiped away the last of her tears. She’d been so mad at Arlan she couldn’t think straight, and didn’t want to speak to him with her heart full of anger. She’d say something she shouldn’t and knew words spoken out of anger were the worst kind.
She ought to know, she’d been at the receiving end of those words more times than she could count. When Uncle Burr got angry, he really got angry, and his words were like knives stabbing in all the right places to make her little heart bleed itself near to death. She swore long ago she would never let her tongue get the best of her, and she wasn’t going to start now. No matter what Arlan and Olivia had done, if anything at all.

Ma had opened the door to her tear-stained face and runny nose, and had immediately taken her in.  Once upstairs she sat Samijo down on Arlan’s old bed and listened t
o the ordeal spill out of her like rocks from a bucket.  Her words rattling from her lips in quick succession, almost too fast for Ma to understand, but understand them she did.

“Men,” she’d huffed to her new daughter in law. “They’re not always the brightest creatures when they see someone in trouble.  They think only to fix the problem, and sometimes get themselves in a pickle.
Especially when there’s a conniving female involved.”

Was that all Olivia Bridger amounted to, a conniving woman out to sink her claws into the likes of her husband?  But what good would that do the woman?  Arlan
was
married after all. But then, maybe that was the point, to let Samijo know that even though he was married, she still had the power to tempt him.

“But he shouldn’t have been …” she whispered to herself. “No, he should have come home last night.” The mere thought made her chest tighten with an ache she didn’t understand and ha
d no idea of how to deal with.  She’d never felt the likes of it before, and wondered what it could be.

“Samijo?” came a soft voice from the other side of the door. It was Ma
’s. 

Samijo got up from the bed, and opened the door. “I’m not hungry if that’s what you’re wondering,” she said. 

Ma came into the room and looked her up and down. “My, my. Just look at ya!  All red-faced and puffy eyed. What you need is a good hot bath and a restful sleep. Then in the morning I want you to march right back to that husband of yours and tell him you love him.”

“But …”

“No buts. It’s true ain’t it?”

Samijo
went to the bed and sat. “I … I don’t know. I’ve never been in love before.”

“Well, I’d say you are with the way you’re acting.  It’s okay to be jealous, mad even, but there are always two sides to every story, and you’ve only
seen
the one, and not heard the other. I’ll bet a month’s worth of work that Bridger woman staged the whole thing so she could get Arlan away from you, just to say she could.”

“That’s a wicked thing to do.
”

“Ain’t it though?”

“I understand what you’re saying, and thought she might have been up to no good. Makes me want to scratch her eyes out. I … I almost slapped her.”

“Maybe you should have.”

“She screamed and carried on like I did more than slap her.”

“
Hmmph, so what does that tell you?”

Samijo looked at her,
and then closed her eyes. “That she’s a bold-faced liar.”

“Uh-h
uh, which means what?”

Samijo swallowed hard. “That I need to apologize to Arlan … for jumping to conclusions.”

“But do it in a pretty dress, and if’n he’s mad at ya, he’ll forget it quick enough.”

Samijo smiled. “I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay the night here. I needed to think this through. I bet by now Arlan’s plumb mad at me.”

“Maybe so, but he’ll get over it. Now let’s get you that bath, you’ll sleep better.”

“I’ll take care of it, I’ve been doing it for years.”

“You had a hard life before marrying my boy, didn’t you?”

Samijo got up from the bed
. “I never had anything to compare it to until now, but looking back after spending so little time here, yes, I suppose I did. Uncle Burr wasn’t the nicest relative to have to live with, but he was the only one. If he hadn’t taken me in, I would no doubt have been raised in an orphanage.”

“Oh I hear they can be awful places, some at any rate. But several men in town married mail order brides that came
from an orphanage, and they all turned out to be the nicest girls.”

“I’m glad to hear it, I just hope I turn out to be as nice. Right now, I’m not proud of the way I’ve acted.”

“You need to stop worrying, and get downstairs and take that bath.”

Samijo hugged her mother in law, kissed her on the cheek, and together, they went downstairs.

* * *

“You’re gonna be in a heap of trouble when Pa finds out what you’ve done,” Jonathan said. “I bet he marries you off to the next fella that comes along, no matter who he is!”

“He’ll do no such thing,
” Olivia countered. “I take care of him and mother, I’m far too valuable to them.”

“You’re an extra mouth to feed.”

Olivia narrowed her eyes at her younger brother. “And what about you? You’re old enough to marry now. Why do they keep you around?”

“Cause I do more work than you do,” he shot back.
They were sitting around the campfire, their parents already asleep in the back of the covered wagon. “Not only that, I’m not the one that told Pa this land was for sale.”

“Everything’s for sale,” she stated matter of fact. “So long as you offer the right price.”

“Pa’s gonna bust a gut when he finds out it ain’t.  Besides, what are you doing chasing after a man that’s already married?  He ain’t gonna leave the wife he’s got for you.”

“Maybe not, but I’ve stirred the pot enough to make him boil. Serves him right for spurning me back at the stage stop.”

“Is that what this is about?  You flirted with him at that Gunderson Stage stop and he wouldn’t take your bait?”

She sat ramrod straight. “Something
like that.”

“Was he already married?”

Olivia’s mouth pressed into a firm line.

“Uh-huh, I thought so. You just can’t let it rest can you?  Ever since Maddie Van Zuyen married that Berg fella years ago back in Clear Creek, you’ve had a burr under your
saddle.  Now no man is safe from you! You’re making all these women suffer because you’re still mad!”

“I am not!” she hissed.

“Quiet, you want to wake Pa? And you are so still mad. When you gonna forget about it and go find a husband of your own?”

Olivia smiled wickedly to herself. “Because it’s too much fun ruining someone else’s.”

* * *

Samijo slept like a rock, and crawled out of bed only because she wanted to see Arlan. Otherwise
, it would have been nice to lie there and enjoy the sound of the spring birds.  She’d heard one or two while crossing the field the morning before, and noticed another had joined in their song today.  The birds in this part of the country were much different, and it would take her some time before she learned them all, but learn them she would, and then she’d be able to teach her children which bird belonged to what song …

Children … Arlan.

Samijo hurried from the bed and began to dress. She dreamt of her husband last night and couldn’t wait to see him! Ma was right; she did need to apologize to him for acting so irrationally the day before. And if Arlan was
still mad at her, she decided she’d kiss
him
! How surprised would her be when she did that? As surprised as he was when Olivia kissed him the day before?  She’d been so mad, she hadn’t noticed Arlan’s reaction, and only saw Olivia’s triumphant smirk as she stormed past him and made for the front door. Maybe if she’d slowed down a little and let him explain, she’d have seen a lot more.

She pulled her hair into a loose chignon, and went downstairs.  Ma was already making breakfast when she entered the kitchen. “Mo
rning.”

“The boys will be back from their chores soon, Arlan with them most likely. Have you thought about what you’re going to say?”

“No, but I know what I’m going to do.”

Ma turned from the pancakes she was making. “Really? What’s that?”

Samijo blushed. “I’m going to kiss him.”

Ma laughed at that. “There’s an interesting idea, now who would have ever thought to do that?”

Samijo giggled. “I know it’s not much, but it’s a start.”

“Trust me honey, it’ll be enough. Now quick, sit down
, I see them a comin’ and Arlan’s with them.”

Samijo dashed to the nearest chair, sat, and pinched her cheeks. “Do I look all right?”

“You’re beautiful, now sit there and let him speak first.”

Samijo’s stomach did a flip or two before the kitchen door opened and the twins file
d in followed by Daniel. Arlan brought up the rear and stopped short when he saw her. The action made her feel suddenly shy, and she looked down at the checkered tablecloth.

“Morning Samijo,” Benjamin said, his voice low. He sound
ed as if he wasn’t sure he should be addressing her at all. She looked at him to see if his eyes would confirm it, but they held no such hesitancy in them, and instead seemed to be pleading with her to say something,
anything.
So she looked at Arlan when she said, “Good morning, Calvin. Did you sleep well?”

Calvin looked between Samijo and his brother, as their eyes locked on each other. “Uh, fine, and you?”

“Never slept better,” she said.

Arlan’s eyes narrowed at the remark and he sat heavily onto a chair. “I didn’t hardly sleep at all,” he added.
Benjamin and Daniel also sat, and did their best not to say a word. Arlan gave them a brief glance before returning his attention to his wife. “It was cold last night.”

“Was it?” she asked. “I didn’t notice.”

“I did, as I didn’t have any company.”

His voice was terse, and Samijo stiffened in her chair.  Thankfully, Ma set a huge plate of pancakes on the table then turned back to the stove.  The twins both stabbed at the stack at the same time, as Daniel reached for the pitcher of milk, his eyes darting from one face to the other. Arlan didn’t lift a finger, but continued to stare at her. “Please pass the butter,” she told him.

He looked at the small crock, and shoved it across the table to her.

She straightened. “Thank you.” She reached for it, but his hand shot out and grabbed hers.

“Don’t you need a pancake first?” he asked.

“I was getting to that,” she countered.

“Allow me,” he said.

Something in his voice made her wary, and she looked at the twins who both sat, a fork halfway to their mouths, as they waited to see what their big brother would do next.  Samijo’s back stiffened another notch
, and she tried not to gulp as he dished her up a pancake and set it before her.  He buttered it then went a step further and poured syrup onto it, making a show of letting it drip onto the surface of the pancake in slow circles, before he set the syrup down, and looked into her eyes.

Now she did gulp
.

Arlan smiled at the sound as he
leaned across the table, cut a bite of pancake off with a fork, and lifted it to her mouth. What else was she supposed to do but take it? Arlan’s eyes grew dark as his brother’s watched in fascination. “Hungry, darlin’?” he asked in a low voice.

“Er … ah … well it is breakfast,” she said.

“Yes, and it would have been nice if my wife had been home to cook mine.”

Try as she might, her temper flared anyway. “And it would have been nicer if my husband had come home to bed with me the night before.”

The eyes of the three brothers got bigger.

Arlan ignored them. “Maybe if someone would have taken the time to listen to me instead of running out the door yesterday, we both could have had what we wanted.”

Samijo stood. “I wanted you home in bed with me, not out all night with that Bridger woman!”

Benjamin grabbed his plate and pushed his chair back, Daniel did the same. Calvin on the other hand, started to dig into his pancakes, never once taking his eyes from the two combatants.

“I was not out all night … okay, so maybe I was, but
nothing
happened!”

“Why were out all night to begin with? It can’t take that long to find a couple of horses that wandered off!”