Lauri Robinson - Winning The Mail-Order Bride

Rhett seemed excited, but Wyatt was hesitant. At seven, he carried a big load on his shoulders, and Brett couldn’t help but wonder what had put it there.

“You boys know how to set a table?” he asked while cracking an egg on the edge of the frying pan. With no sisters, he and his brothers had set the table many times while growing up.

“Yes, sir,” Rhett answered.

“You’ll find everything in that cupboard.” He pointed toward the cabinet behind Wyatt. “Don’t forget napkins.”

He was setting the plate full of fried fish on the table when a woman appeared in the doorway. She was tall and slender, and wearing a dark green dress that was buttoned all the way up to her chin, but it was the dark circles beneath her eyes that made a knot form in Brett’s stomach.

“Brett invited us to eat with him, Ma,” Wyatt said.

“You said we’d eat as soon as we got to town,” Rhett said at the same time.

She bit her bottom lip as she turned to look at him again. “I apologize, Mr. Blackwell—”

“No need to apologize, Mrs. Goldberg,” Brett said while she glanced toward her sons once again. It was obvious Josiah had told her his name, just as Wyatt had told him hers. “I did invite Rhett and Wyatt to supper. As you can see, I have plenty, and feeding my new neighbors would be my pleasure.” A second thought formed then, that of Josiah inviting them to eat with him. “Unless you have other plans of course. I’m afraid I didn’t think of that.”

The way she paused long enough to close her eyes briefly and swallow sent a tiny shiver up his spine. When she opened her eyes and he spotted the moisture she’d been trying to hide, he experienced a wave of melancholy that surpassed all he’d been feeling for himself the past few days.

“No, Mr. Blackwell, we don’t have other plans, and I apologize for that, as well.”

If there hadn’t been little ears nearby, he’d have asked why. Melbourne should have planned something for their first night in town. Then again, if Josiah hadn’t been aware they’d be arriving today, he might have been taken off guard, and considering Rollie Austin was one of the men who’d gotten married today, there wasn’t any place in town open for them to get a meal.

“That must be why I caught so many fish today,” Brett said while pulling out a chair for her. “I already told the boys the fish just wouldn’t stop biting on my hook.”

She glanced from him to the table and back at him. “This is so kind of you, Mr. Blackwell, but we couldn’t impose. The boys shouldn’t have—”

“No one’s imposing, ma’am.” Seeing her hesitation, he added, “I appreciate the company.”

She glanced around the room. “And your wife?”

Brett laughed. “Don’t have one.” He gestured to the table. “It’s nothing fancy, just fish and eggs, but there’s plenty.”

The indecision in her eyes had Brett holding his breath. Or maybe it was the way she was biting her bottom lip. Her face was like the rest of her, long and thin, and her eyes reminded him of a cloudy day—sort of sad and hopeless. Brett took another step closer. “You have to be hungry. Your boys sure are. Think of it as my way of welcoming you to Kansas. Once your bellies are full, you can get settled in your house and then get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow will be a new day.”

“That’s what you always say, Ma,” Rhett said.

The hint of a smile that formed on her lips put a faint shine on her face. “Yes, it is.” Turning his way, she nodded. “I’d—We’d be honored to share a meal with you, Mr. Blackwell, and we sincerely appreciate the invitation.”

“I’ll get another plate,” Wyatt said, displaying a full smile.

“I’ll help him,” Rhett offered.

The younger brother had smiled many times during their short visit, but Wyatt hadn’t, and by the smile that grew on the woman’s face, Brett would bet it was the first time she’d smiled in a while too. He wanted to know why. And he wanted to change that. Someone as pretty as she was should be smiling all the time.

“Thank you, Mr. Blackwell,” she said, holding her hand out. “I hope the boys haven’t made themselves a nuisance.”

“Not at all, ma’am.” He shook her hand, noting the soft skin on the back of her hand couldn’t hide the calluses on her palm. “Welcome to Oak Grove.”

“Thank you,” she answered softly, sincerely. “Thank you very much.”

Not quite ready to let go of her hand, he tugged her toward the table. Up close he noticed how unique her eyes were. They held no distinct color, but a mixture of gray, green and brown, and a light appeared in them as she bowed her head slightly.

With a timid smile, she said, “The fish smells wonderful.”

He couldn’t smell anything but flowers. Sweet-smelling flowers that gave off such a wonderful scent all he wanted to do was breathe it in.

“I bet it tastes just as good too.”

Brought back from fields of flowers by little Rhett’s voice, Brett let go of her hand to pull out the chair. “Let’s eat while it’s hot,” he said. “Otherwise, it’ll start to stink.” Giving Fiona a friendly wink, he added, “Fish is like that.”

Fiona pinched her lips to keep from giggling as the big man took his seat at the end of the table beside her. He was so friendly, so kind, her insides were practically dancing. This was the kind of welcome she’d hoped her sons would experience. Something that would assure them they were welcome here. That their lives would forever be changed, forever be better than they’d been back in Ohio. If only Josiah Melbourne had been so welcoming to her and her sons. He’d been more concerned that she and the children wouldn’t behave appropriately—and had gone so far as to write a list of things they could do and things they could not do. She’d nearly gnawed the end off her tongue while forcing herself to remain tolerant. And silent. As he’d suggested. Until she’d seen the boys encounter the blacksmith.

Josiah had stopped her on the way out the door, insisting that Brett Blackwell was harmless and would keep the boys busy while he and she continued to discuss their arrangement. A discussion she’d feared would never end. Her first impression of Josiah hadn’t improved much, and she was already afraid she’d made a mistake in coming to Kansas.

She’d thanked whatever lucky stars she might have left when Josiah had finally taken his leave, only to remember she didn’t have anything to feed them for supper. Arriving at Brett Blackwell’s open back door and seeing her boys seated at the table full of food had been enough to bring tears to her eyes. But it had been his charm, the way he’d coaxed her into believing he truly wanted to share this meal with them, that had broken through the tough exterior she’d tried to hold in place.

He was right, the children were hungry, and thankfully he hadn’t questioned why she hadn’t had any other plans of how to feed them this evening. He couldn’t possibly know how much this meal meant to her right now.

“Thank you,” she said while taking the platter of fish fried to a golden brown. After forking the smallest piece onto her plate, she passed the platter on to Wyatt. Brett then handed her another platter full of fried eggs. There had to be more than a dozen. She took one, the smallest, and then passed that platter on to Wyatt, as well.

As Rhett, who now had the fish platter, slid a third piece of fish onto his plate, she opened her mouth to tell him that was enough, but a large hand gently touched her wrist.

“There’s too much here for me to eat, so you boys best eat until you’re too full to swallow another bite,” Brett said.

He removed his hand from her arm and, with a nod, gestured for everyone to start eating. The boys needed no more encouragement than that, and as Fiona watched them begin eating with gusto, her own stomach flipped. She swallowed hard against the sensation that sent a lump into her throat. When she’d mentioned to Josiah that her sons were hungry, that they hadn’t eaten since last night, he’d interrupted her to point out that if it had just been her on the train, she would have had three meals a day.