Lauri Robinson - Winning The Mail-Order Bride

Maybe he could ask them over for supper again tonight. That had made her smile last night, and having her and Rhett and Wyatt sitting at his table had given him more joy than he’d experienced in a long time. Those boys had been hungry, and even though she’d tried to pretend that she hadn’t been, she had been hungry too. Watching her eat, he’d wished he’d made more than just fish and eggs.

Their arrival should have been celebrated with a full meal. A fancy one, complete with dessert. That thought caused a knot to twist in the center of his stomach. As soon as he figured Josiah would be awake, he’d pay the man a visit. There were several questions rolling around in his head. Questions Josiah needed to answer.

With his thoughts trailing straight back to Fiona, Brett carried his cup of coffee outside and walked around the corner of his house, to where he could see the little city-owned house. As he stood there, staring across the area covered with grass that wouldn’t turn green again until it rained, he wondered what had happened to make Fiona agree to become Josiah’s wife. She was a sensible woman and didn’t seem like the type to take up with Josiah. Then again, she most likely hadn’t known exactly what Josiah was like when she agreed to marry him.

The front door of the house opened, and Fiona emerged, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders before pulling the door closed behind her. She was wearing the same dress as yesterday, but her hair was loose. Long and brown, it flowed over her shoulders, down her back, fluttering in the wind as she walked down the two steps and then made her way toward the outhouse.

Giving her privacy, or perhaps because he didn’t want to be seen staring at her, Brett turned and walked around the corner of his house. Taking a sip of his coffee made another thought form. The boys had said there wasn’t any food in the house they’d rented. At that thought, he entered his house, collected a clean cup and filled it with coffee. He then grabbed the handle of his egg basket. There were only six left, but that should be enough to hold Fiona and the boys over until the mercantile opened.

Outside again, Brett peered around the corner until he saw Fiona walking back toward the house, and then he hurried in that direction.

“Good morning,” he greeted, stopping her before she could open the front door.

Turning about, she released the hold she had on the doorknob. “Good morning to you too, Mr. Blackwell.”

Her voice was soft, and he tried to lower his as he stepped closer, understanding the boys were still sleeping. “I brought you some coffee and some eggs. The mercantile doesn’t open until eight.”

The small smile on her lips didn’t falter, but something about her did, and he wondered why. “The coffee is still hot,” he said. Plenty of people didn’t like cold coffee. Plenty of people didn’t like coffee. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any tea.”

She shook her head slightly. “I prefer coffee, thank you, but I—”

“Here.” He handed her the extra cup. Thinking of last night when he’d had to coax her into eating, he then set the basket on the top step. “Do you have a minute?”

“Why?”

“I want to show you something.”

“What?”

“It’ll only take a few minutes, but we have to hurry.”

She frowned but nodded. “All right.”

He would like to have taken her hand but settled for gesturing for her to walk alongside him. They walked around the side of the house so they were facing east. The land was flat all the way to where it met the sky, which was turning from pink to orange.

Stopping, he took a sip of coffee and watched out the side of his eye as she did the same. Without looking her way, he said, “Last night, I told you tomorrow would be a new day. Well, I thought you might like to watch it appear.”

“Oh, my,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear it.

“You don’t like watching the sun rise?” he asked, surprised. He thought everyone enjoyed watching the sun slowly creep into the sky.

She shook her head, then nodded. “I don’t think I’ve ever watched one before.”

“Never watched a sunrise?”

“No.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I guess I never had time. Or maybe I thought others would believe it was a waste of time.”

He thought that might be the saddest thing he’d ever heard. “It doesn’t take long,” he said. “And it’s worth it.”

Glancing down at the cup she held with both hands, she nodded before looking back up at him and smiling softly.

“Considering this will be your first full day in Oak Grove, I can’t think of a better way for you to start it.”

“I can’t either.” Her gaze shifted, straight ahead, to the center point where the earth met the sky.

A small hump of yellow had formed and was pushing the orange glow higher. They stood there, silently, sipping their coffee and watching as the yellow continued to rise and form a half circle that slowly grew into a majestic ball with a center so bright it looked white.

As happened every morning, yet still a miracle in itself, the sun soon rose completely above the ground, shooting its glorious rays in all directions. Then slowly, yet too fast to actually define precisely how or when, the sky in all directions turned a crystal clear blue. He’d seen many sunrises, but this one seemed to be the most beautiful one ever.

Hearing her sigh, Brett glanced her way. The full smile on her lips made his insides rise as gently as the sun just had.

“That was beautiful. Simply beautiful.” She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them to look directly at him. “Thank you.”

In all his years he’d never suddenly been struck with a want so strongly, but right now he wanted to pull her into his arms to hug her. And kiss her.

Not sure how to make those desires disappear, he took a step back and glanced toward her house. After clearing the lump from his throat, he said, “Those boys of yours will be hungry again this morning. Boys always are. They’ll want to start exploring Oak Grove too.”

“How do you know so much about boys?”

“Because I was one,” he said. “And I had several brothers. Seven actually. Four older and three younger.”

“Your poor mother—she must have had her hands full.”

“She did, but she also had a broom and wasn’t afraid to use it on any one of us.” Memories of home made him smile. “I guarantee none of us wanted to make her mad enough to use it.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.”

He couldn’t stop a short bout of laughter. “You’ve only heard a part of it. You see, if any one of us got Ma mad enough to use the broom, that meant Pa would use the belt on us for making Ma so mad.”

“Oh, my.”

“For the most part, she didn’t use that broom for nothing but sweeping up the mud we hauled in on our boots, and Pa didn’t use that belt for anything but holding up his britches.”

“Learned early, did you?”

He winked one eye. “About the same time I learned to walk.”

Her giggle was soft, but the sparkle in her eyes said he hadn’t imagined it. He nodded toward the house. “You got two good boys in there, ma’am. Plenty to be proud of. Polite and well behaved.”

She nodded and started walking toward the house. “Thank you. I sincerely hope they behaved yesterday, and I apologize again for their arriving so unannounced. For myself too.”

“I won’t accept any apologizing. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

They rounded the house and she held up her cup while stopping near the steps. “Thank you for the coffee and the sunrise. You’ve made my—our arrival something we’ll never forget.”

Sensing there was more behind her words, things he shouldn’t press her on, Brett gestured toward the basket on the back stoop. “I gotta go see to my horses, but if you need something to go along with those eggs, feel free to take what you need from my kitchen. The door’s open.”