Mail-Order Cousins 2

by Joyce Armor

  She wasn’t looking at him, but he imagined her eyes must look sad or angry.

  He finished off his plate of beans and set it down for Buddy to lick. “Yes. I was young and a blind fool when it came to Adelina. I couldn’t see past her outward beauty. And she was gorgeous.”

  Per felt a pang of jealousy. She wanted to strangle little miss perfect Adelina.

  “She also was vain and shallow and devious. I just couldn’t see it. She left me for the man she married. Now she wants to leave him for me.”

  Per couldn’t breathe, waiting for him to go on. Was this it? It couldn’t be, not after he said those negative things about her. But men could be so stupid at times. Women too, she supposed.

  “Per, you are ten times the woman Adelina is. I wouldn’t take her back under any circumstances. I know you’ve had a rough time here. Will you stay?” He leaned over and took her hands in his. “I want you to stay.”

  That’s when she knew it. She loved him. He could be annoying and frustrating and even a little mean sometimes, and she loved him more than she could hardly stand. Should she tell him? Maybe not quite yet. She needed to tell him about her condition as well and recognized that pure fear kept her from fulfilling that task. What if he didn’t want a child so soon? Well, then he shouldn’t have been so free with his…he just shouldn’t have been so free. She decided now wasn’t the time to share her feelings and knowledge. She wouldn’t want to send him running off into the forest this late at night. She chuckled at that.

  “What?”

  She smiled. “I’ll stay. Let’s clean up the dishes and go to bed.”

  “I like the way you think, Mrs. Burgen.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Burgen. I have my moments.”

  As they headed to the creek with the dishes, he added, “Tomorrow we’ll need to come up with a plan. With that $5,000 flyer out, others will come for you.”

  “I know. I’ll send a telegram to my mother tomorrow. Maybe she’ll listen for once, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

  Chapter 8

  Their lovemaking that night almost had an edge of desperation to it, as they subconsciously recognized she could have died or disappeared forever. Gus felt so protective of Per and inadequate in doing his job. Once they had coupled in a frenzy, he slowed the pace and made love to her almost languidly, and yet she experienced an incredible climax. She was lying in his arms, her head on his shoulder, when he spoke.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have anything to apologize for. That was incredible.”

  “Not for that.” He was almost insulted. “For not protecting you.”

  She turned around and looked at him. “You can’t be with me every second of every day, Gus. And you will note that I did escape my captor on my own. I do have skills.”

  He smiled and caressed one of her breasts. “I know you do.”

  “Well, stop feeling guilty. You did nothing wrong. You should know that you’re my hero.”

  “I’m no hero.”

  “You are to me.”

  “Stubborn.”

  “Pigheaded.”

  He grabbed her and kissed her fiercely and then let her go.

  “I love you and I’m pregnant,” she said. Where did that come from? So much for waiting for the right time.

  Gus pulled her into his arms and held her, her back to his front. She could feel his heart beating on her back and knew he was struggling with what to say. She knew he cared about her, but that didn’t mean he loved her. And she knew he understood how babies were made, so he couldn’t blame her for that. Finally, after what seemed an eon but was probably 10 minutes, he spoke.

  “I’m a very potent male.”

  She sat up abruptly. “That’s what you got out of what I just said?”

  “That and I am so honored. You’ve made me a very happy man.”

  Well, that’s something, isn’t it? She gave him a wobbly smile. “I aim to please.”

  He wanted to tell her he loved her. It stuck in his craw, though, with a filmy image of Adelina laughing at him. “Oh, Gus, we had some fun, but that’s all it was.” At least he could show her with his tender care.

  “A baby. Do you feel all right? You can’t have a baby out here.”

  “What did you think was going to happen? And I can have a baby anywhere I want to.”

  “We need a doctor. Or a midwife.”

  She put a hand on his chest. “And we have seven months to figure it out. Let’s go to sleep.”

  Christ, a babe on the way—the idea of which thrilled him and terrified him at the same time—a $5,000 reward to kidnap his wife and a house and barn to build while protecting her. He pulled her back into his arms.

  “I won’t let anything hurt you or our baby, Per.”

  He didn’t say he loved her, but Per snuggled in and felt all was right in her world.

  * * *

  The young wife was excited as they rode into Vale on the buckboard. The town wasn’t exactly teeming, but a few people, mostly men dressed in buckskins or looking like farmers, rode up or down the street and left or entered businesses. Too grizzled old men in denim overalls sat in front of the mercantile playing checkers. Per would have liked to visit that establishment while Gus headed down to the livery to find Karl. Her husband wouldn’t hear of it, however. They were sticking together.

  So down to the livery they went, where they found Karl dickering with a man who had a military air to him, although he was dressed in tan trousers and a dark blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up. It must be the style here. Every man seems to roll up his sleeves. Just that thought made Per appreciate Oregon even more. No man in her circle in Elizabethtown would deign to expose his forearms. Heaven forfend. She glanced again at the man Karl was chatting with so intensely. His dark hair was short and his face weathered, a patrician nose and sharp chin standing out.

  At last, Karl said, “Deal,” and thrust out his hand. The man took it and they shook.

  Karl counted out some bills and handed them to him, then turned to his brother and Per. “I bought a horse.”

  Gus looked at him like he was crazy. “You’re going to transport a horse back to Baltimore?”

  “No, it’s for the ranch. You can’t have a ranch without horses. Wait’ll you see this one.”

  The livery man walked by and nodded as Karl led the couple up several stalls.

  “Wow,” Per said. “He’s beautiful.”

  The horse was sleek and all black except for a small white star on its forward. It looked muscular and powerful. And proud.

  Per turned to Gus. “This horse reminds me of you.”

  Karl laughed. “Maybe his behind.”

  “Did you just call me a horse’s ass?”

  Per hooked her arm with his. “That was a compliment. He’s so regal and beautiful and proud.”

  Gus gave Karl a smug look and his brother laughed again, shaking his head. Temporarily leaving the horse behind, Karl headed off to the feed and grain store while Gus took Per to the land office, where they claimed another 160 acres in the name of Priscilla Vanderhaven Burgen. Then they walked to the telegraph office. After much deliberation, she sent her mother a telegram that read: I am happily married and with child Stop Call off your dogs if you ever want to see your grandchildren Stop Love, Per

  Gus laughed at the affectionate closing after the harsh words.

  “She hates the nickname Per, so that added a little extra bit of irritation.”

  * * *

  The next two months went by faster than Per could have imagined. The early summer days were mostly filled with construction projects and the nights with sometimes wild and sometimes slow and sweet lovemaking. In that time, Karl and Gus finished putting up the outhouse—they shared a bottle of wine over that—and building the house, which was even more momentous. Per helped by doing the chinking with a combination of moss and clay and the daubing with a different clay mixture. Gus continually tried to get her to take it easy, as if she was the first
pregnant woman in the world and would collapse if she exerted any effort. She appreciated his concern, but a main point of her moving west was to feel useful, so that was one battle he couldn’t win.

  Gus and his brother also fashioned two beds, and Per filled the mattresses she sewed with straw and leaves until they could get a couple of those fancy new spring mattresses. They hauled a dining set from an estate sale in Vale, as well as a nice burgundy sofa and a couple of complementary chairs. While the furniture was minimal for the two-bedroom home with a nice-size loft and a large kitchen, Per had not one complaint. In fact, it was heavenly living in an actual house, sleeping in a real bed, using a privy and cooking in an honest-to-goodness kitchen. Perhaps she still would not win any awards for her cooking but was improving every week, surprised to discover she had both an affinity and a talent for preparing food. And her meals beat the ones Gus had come up with the week she had broken her leg. She chuckled, remembering the infamous beef jerky and peas dish he had created.

  Since her encounter with Napoleon Bacon, three different men had tried to collect the $5,000 bounty on Per. One took the direct approach and was persuaded that either Gus or Karl would shoot him the next time he showed up. Another tried to kidnap her at night and was shot in the leg for his trouble. Karl took him to town and presented him to the sheriff, who took a dim view of breaking and entering. The third man was knocked out by Per when she whacked him with a frying pan. He came back the following week and she kneed him in the crotch. Gus took that man back to town, and whatever he said to him on the way, the fellow never returned. Her husband came back from that trip to inform her that Napoleon Bacon, with a nurse at his side, had taken a train back east.

  It was a beautiful June day, with the bluest sky Per could remember seeing. She decided to walk down to the barn and see how the men were doing. Gathering up a plate of oatmeal cookies and a couple of glasses of lemonade on a tray, she carefully headed down the porch steps. Her new boots were finally broken in, but her breeches were starting to feel a little snug. Time, perhaps, to go up a size.

  She had felt a little left out the last couple of weeks, as they didn’t need the walls chinked in the barn. With all the odors, it was better to let a little air in. They had gotten the walls up today, and Karl was handing a bale of hay for Gus to put in the loft. She stood for a moment admiring her husband’s muscles as he caught the bale with a big hook and lifted it into the loft. Karl stopped when he saw Per.

  “Ah, refreshments.” He grabbed a glass of lemonade from the tray and drank thirstily. A moment later, Gus climbed down the ladder and gratefully claimed his own glass.

  “And oatmeal cookies. I baked them this morning.”

  The men both reached for a cookie.

  Gus studied his wife. “Have you rested today?”

  She sighed. “Yes, Mother. I put my feet up while the cookies were baking.”

  Karl laughed.

  Per looked around. “What’s left to do here?”

  “We’ll get the roof on tomorrow,” Gus said.

  “Then it’s just the finishing touches,” Karl added. “The rail for saddles, hooks and shelves, divisions between stalls. We should be done by the end of the week.”

  Suddenly the thought of Karl leaving when the barn was completed hit both Gus and Per at the same time. They shared a glance, and Per’s eyes filled with tears.

  She swiveled around and wiped them quickly, then turned back. “Gus, could you help me with something in the kitchen, please?”

  That was about as transparent as it could be, and Karl played along.

  “I’m going to go check the traps,” he said.

  Gus followed his wife to the ranch house.

  “I don’t want Karl to leave. Do you? He’s an important part of our family.”

  Gus plucked another cookie from the tray Per set on the kitchen counter. “I don’t want him to leave either. I can’t expect him to help us forever, though. He has his own life to live.”

  Per thought for a moment and then her eyes lit up. “We need to find him a woman.”

  “What?”

  “A woman. If he had a love interest here, he wouldn’t want to go back east.”

  Gus reached out and pulled Per to him, wrapping his arms around her. “You know there aren’t very many women out here, especially not the kind that would make good wives.”

  Per eased back into her husband’s hard body. Just as his erection began to answer the call and he grasped both her breasts, she jumped away and turned toward him, smiling.

  “My cousin Bridget just turned 19. Remember I got a letter from Lindy, who married the Texas Ranger? Bridget is her sister. She grew up on a farm outside of Elizabethtown, one of seven children in the family. Lindy can be somewhat reserved and cautious, although she was more gregarious when she was younger. Bridget is outspoken and fearless and very pretty. She’s always been interested in the medical arts and is kind of the family healer. Oh, please. Let me write her, and let me tell Karl about her.”

  He pulled her back into his chest. “Well, talk to Karl first. Don’t do anything behind his back.”

  He could tell she was skeptical and thinking it might be better to rope his brother in sneakily.

  “If you don’t tell him, I can almost guarantee you he’ll be gone before she ever gets here.”

  “Oh. Good point. All right then.”

  He turned her around and gave her one of his passionate let’s-go-to-bed kisses, and that’s exactly what would have happened if they hadn’t heard a buckboard approaching. Always leery of men trying to snatch Per, Gus set her back from him and pulled his gun, checking to make sure all cylinders were loaded.

  “I wonder who that is. At least they’re not sneaking up.”

  They walked to the window together and peeked out, both stepping back in utter shock. Gus was certain he had just seen Adelina Spencer. Per could not have mistaken her mother, Candida Reeves Vanderhaven.

  The young couple looked at each other.

  “Adelina?” Per said.

  He nodded. “Your mother?”

  “Shit,” she said.

  He laughed. “My sentiments exactly. What are we going to do?”

  She thought for a moment, certain that’s the only amount of time she would have, and then it hit her. It was the perfect plan. She looked at Gus with a devious smile on her face.

  “I’ll take Adelina. You deal with my mother.”

  He smiled. It was a brilliant plan. God, he loved this woman. He’d fought it, he’d denied it, and yet in this moment he saw it with such clarity it stunned him. He pulled her into his arms and whispered in her ear. “I love you, Per.”

  The simple words seeped into the core of her being and gave her the strength to deal with whatever faced them, today and in the future. She looked up at him with such love in her eyes it nearly buckled his knees.

  “You know I love you, too. Let’s go face the dragons. We’ll figure out a way to separate them and divide and conquer.”

  He grabbed her hand, squeezed and led her outside.

  The driver of the buckboard, the man she recognized from the livery stable, was removing a couple of rather ornate satchels from the back of the buckboard. Adelina and Per’s mother were standing several feet away, surveying the property. Per could not gauge Adelina’s reaction, but it was obvious her mother was looking on with distaste.

  Per really tried not to stare at Adelina. Gus was right. The woman was gorgeous, with cascading blonde curls, alabaster skin and, dear God, dimples. Her dress was some flouncy, lacy light blue satiny concoction which hugged her in all the right places. She was petite and the very height of femininity and fashion. In a word, she was perfect. Until she opened her mouth.

  “Gustavus. Oregon. Really?”

  Three words and she managed to belittle him. Per was impressed. She turned to Gus, a smile pasted on her face. “Shall we make introductions?”

  “Certainly, my dear.” He patted her hand, which was clutching his ar
m. “Per, may I present Adelina Carstairs. Mrs. Carstairs, this is my wife, Per Burgen.”

  Before the little blue wonder could say anything, Per said, “Mother, this is Gus Burgen, my husband. Gus, my mother, Candida Vanderhaven.”

  Her mother looked Gus up and down and obviously found him wanting. “Priscilla Hughes Vanderhaven, what have you done?”

  “We’ll talk about that later, Mother. Right now, Gus will show you the house, and I’ll take Mrs. Carstairs on a little walk to show her the property.

  Before anyone could object, Per latched on to Adelina’s arm and hauled her away. Gus had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing. With his most serious look, he held Candida Vanderhaven’s eyes, swept a hand toward the house and said, “Shall we?”

  Although she appeared annoyed, Per’s mother followed him up the steps and into the house. “Hold one moment, Mrs. Vanderhaven. I’ll be right back.”

  Once outside, he went up to the liveryman. “Can you wait about 20 minutes? I think they may be going back with you.”

  “I don’t want them either, but I’ll wait.”

  Gus laughed and shook his hand, then sprinted back up the stairs and into the house.

  * * *

  Per led Adelina into the barn, where the interloper wrinkled her nose at the smell.

  “It doesn’t even have a roof,” she sniffed.

  “I imagine the smell will be worse when it does,” her guide observed.

  After that, Per led her to the creek. “This is where I washed the dishes before the house was built, and where we bathed until Karl brought the bathtub.”

  “How uncivilized.”

  Per smiled. “Yes.”

  Adelina sneered. “Gus loved me before he ever met you, and I’ll make him love me again. You’re nothing.”

  “What I am, Adelina, is his wife. You threw him away in your greed and blindness. And I’m not letting him go, certainly not to the likes of you.”

  The woman actually stomped the ground. “You can’t talk to me like that.”

  “I think you need to cool off.”

  She shoved little miss flouncy Adelina and she landed in the creek on her bottom, screeching like only a spoiled heiress could screech. Per only wished it had been a mud puddle.