The Widow's Mail Order Husband (Mail Order Brides)

by Susan Leigh Carlton

  “I agree. It did go well. It surprised me to find out the state pays for the books, I was proud of the way you went about that.

  “I should have said something the other day, but I was also proud of your handling of the meeting Sunday. You had them rooting for you against Jace.”

  “After Joshua died, I had to look out for myself,” she asserted. “Sometimes I put men off when I come on so strong. They’re not used to coming up against a woman that thinks for herself. We had quite a few widows in Hagerstown, and we met regularly, with no subject off limits. Most of us had to support ourselves and there weren’t many ways to do that.”

  “I guess I put myself in the category you described. It’s the way Paw was, and I guess I inherited it. I’m a slow learner, but I usually get it sooner or later.”

  “There’s nothing slow about you. You never would have taken the mail order path if you were slow. We’ll get it figured out.”

  Chapter 12: Tom Does Some Soul Searching

  On the way back to the Lazy H, Tom was quiet and in a pensive mood. He thought, “She said we’d get it figured out. I guess she meant us. She sure seems to know what she wants and doesn’t mind telling you about it. I guess that comes from having to fend for herself all of those years.

  “When Jace mouthed off about Maryland, I should have been the one that spoke up instead of James.

  “I sure didn’t know Emily was making the kind of progress she described at the meeting. My little girl reading!

  “There’s another area I’ve fallen down. I haven’t been much of a Papa to her. God knows, I love her, but I just don’t know how to show it.”

  * * *

  “Mary, I think I’ve let Emily down. What can I do to show her I care? How do I talk to her without sounding like I’m the principal of the school?” he asked.

  “I’ll share a secret I learned a long time ago,” she said. “When I’m teaching, I’m an authority figure and the children are looking up to me for direction, so I stand tall. When I want to have a conversation with them, or just talk to them, I get down to their level.

  “Emily is a little girl, and you’re this nearly six feet tall. You have an imposing presence. You’re accustomed to being the boss and it shows. You need to get down to her eye level. Then you don’t seem so big. Once you’re at eye level, you’ll find it opens all sorts of things. Find something she likes and talk about it. Most little girls aren’t interested in ranching. Emily has a big imagination. She talks to her dolls and they talk back to her. Sit on the floor with her.

  “If you are standing and ask her what she’s doing, her answer is probably going to be one of two things. Either “playing” or “nothing”.

  He laughed. “I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten those same two words as answers, when I asked the question you just mentioned.

  “You don’t have any children, how’d you get so smart about them?”

  “You’re wrong there. I had fifteen in my class. Learning to relate is a survival necessity. A teacher can lose her class if she’s not careful, and once you lose it, it’s tough getting it back.”

  “Now, all I need is someone to teach me about women,” he said ruefully.

  “I can’t help you there. How did you manage with Caroline?” she asked.

  “It wasn’t a problem. Like I said earlier, we had known each other all of our lives. I’m not satisfied with the way we’ve been with each other. I have to adapt to having someone around that hasn’t known me forever, and have to realize you can’t read my mind.

  “I’m having a hard time here,” he said. “I realize I’m not saying it very well…”

  “Pull up under that tree, would you?” she asked.

  When they were stopped, she pulled him around to face her. “You’re trying, and that means a lot. The worse thing you could do would be to go silent.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down, and kissed him full on the lips. “Mmmmm,” she said and deepened the kiss. Now with one hand on the side of his face and the other on the back on his neck, she traced the edges of his mouth with the tip of her tongue. Moving her lips, she probed with her tongue until he parted his lips and allowed her to enter.

  When they broke the kiss, she said, “My goodness, that was something. Let’s do that again. I thoroughly enjoyed that.”

  The second kiss was more intense than the first, Breaking apart, they continued home, the carriage moving at a leisurely pace. Tom turned to Mary and said, “I have always been one to keep my feelings to myself. I’ve never talked about my problems, I guess because I didn’t feel the need. Caroline knew me so well, she knew when something was bothering me. I’m going to work at getting better.

  “I do want us to work,” he said. “I want someone to grow old with and I want that someone to be you. It’s going to take patience on your part, but I will make you a good husband.”

  Mary squeezed his arm, and said, “You want to pull over again? Do you hear what you are doing and saying? You are verbalizing your feelings. You’re looking at me when you talk. I will make you a good wife. It will take tolerance on your part too. I have a quick and sometimes sharp tongue. We’ve already talked about me not wanting to be controlled. I’m looking at a long life together.” She slid over on the seat and linked her arm with his and kept it there until they came to a stop in front of the barn.

  Tom hopped down from the carriage, tied the horse, and started to walk toward the door when he looked back. Mary was still sitting in the carriage. He grinned. “Sorry,” he said, and took her hand and helped her from the carriage.

  She came into his arms and said, “Can we continue where we left off?” She tilted her head, stood on her toes and enjoyed a long, passionate kiss from this man she had married. In a husky voice, she said, “With more practice, I think we could get pretty good at this, don’t you?”

  “I do, and I’m anxious to move on to the next level.”

  “That’s my man talking.” She said. “I like that, and I’m right there with you, cowboy. Now, let’s go in and see our daughter.”

  In the kitchen, Tom called out, “Emily, we’re home. Come see what we brought you.”

  When Emily walked in, he had his hand holding the book, tablet and pencils they had gotten in the general store before they left town. He knelt down to where he was at eye level, and said, “First you have to pay for it.”

  “I don’t have any money Papa,” she said.

  “You could pay for it with a hug,” Tom offered. She accepted his offer wrapped her arms around the neck. He held out the book and other things. “We picked these out for you to use. Now you can write your letters and draw pictures,” he said.

  “I can draw a pony,” she said. “Mama showed me how, huh Mama?”

  “Yes, I did. Why don’t you show your Papa the letters you know how to write?”

  “Would you draw a pony for me?” he asked.

  “Uh huh,” she said and sat at the table to draw the picture of a horse for her Papa.

  Mary laid her hand against the side of his face, feeling the stubble of his beard against her skin. “See what I mean?” she said.

  Tom covered her hand with his. “That feels good,” he said, feeling the warmth from her touch spread over him.

  “You should do more of it, it’s always there for you to touch and hold. And I like the feeling of it on my skin,” she said.

  “I’ll see what I can do to further that,” he said.

  “I’ll hold you to that,” she said, in a promise of things to come.

  Chapter 13: It’s Been A Very Good Day

  As they prepared for bed, Mary told Tom, “This has been a very good day. We came a long way in a short time. We have a much better understanding of each other than we did this morning.”

  “I do anyway,” Tom agreed. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her against him Through the several layers of clothes separating them, he could feel the tips of her breasts as they spread warmth over him.

/>   “Ohhhh, are you going to have your way with me?” she asked.

  “I am thinking about it,” he said.

  “Think harder,” she urged.

  “Are you talking dirty?” he asked.

  She laughed, just realizing the double entendre in her question, “I guess I am, or maybe thinking out loud,” she said.

  He crushed her lips beneath his. His kiss was strong and full of desire. She parted them to allow his demanding tongue entry. The tip of his tongue touched hers, and sent sparks coursing through her body. As he probed the depths of her mouth, she felt herself grow warm. She turned and asked, “Would you undo me please?” As he fumbled with the button loops on the back of her dress, she could feel the roughness of his hands, callused from hard work.

  She let the unbuttoned dress fall to the floor and stepped out of it. She shed the other layers of clothes until she stood before him clad only in her pantaloons. He dropped his arms to his sides as she unbuttoned his shirt. With it hanging open, she ran her hands over his muscular chest. She couldn’t feel an ounce of fat on him.

  He opened the buckle on his belt, unbuttoned the fly of his trousers and let them fall to the floor. Chest to chest they stood together as he bent for another kiss. Mary took charge, boldly licking his lips with her tongue, then running it over his teeth, and the ridges of his mouth. She stepped back, pushed her pantaloons to the floor, slowly did a ballerina’s pirouette before him. Smiling, she asked, “Like what you see, cowboy?”

  “I do. Very much,” he said.

  She could feel the firmness of his manhood against her thigh as he held her close. They fell back onto the bed, He kissed her forehead, and the soft skin of her cheeks. She arched her neck as he moved his head lower. Then he kissed her chest as he fondled her nipples, as they stiffened beneath his touch He rolled his tongue around the pebbly surface and took it into his mouth, causing Mary to gasp with the intensity of the passion that swept over her. He took more into his mouth while he cupped and massaged the other one.

  Mary wrapped her fingers around his staff, squeezing, then massaging it as it became as firm as an oak limb. She felt herself become wet, and felt his hand move to the entrance of her inner core. A finger moved inside and began massaging the inside. It found the magic spot, she immedistely felt the beginnings of a climax that slowly took control of her body, causing her to writhe and push against him. On and on it went, until finally, with a long sigh, she was complete.

  She guided the staff past her folds and into her body. She began to move her hips as he pushed deeper. With him deep within her, she put her hands on his hips and held him tightly against her. Undulating her hips, she could feel him as he began to move in and out. Low, soft moans came from her mouth as she began moving faster. Matching her movements, he moved harder and faster, pressing her against the mattress. Her hands still on his hips, she could feel the tension increase in his muscles as he rushed toward completion. She was suddenly overtaken by her own passion and began bucking and pushing against him. As he reached the peak, she could feel him pumping, filling her cavity, as he emptied himself into her.

  With him still on top, her skin slick from the exertion, she said, “I can truthfully say you have taken me to heights I have never reached before. The feelings, I can’t describe them. I… I have no words.”

  Breathing heavily from the workout, he said, “It was good wasn’t it?”

  “Good? It was incredible. I can hardly wait for the next time,” she said.

  He found he was still firm. “Maybe you won’t have to wait too long,” he said, He began to move slowly, and so did she, together they found their way to the top of the mountain again. When it was done, he rolled off her, but kept her in his arms.

  Mary was serene, satisfied. She had made a good decision to come to Texas. She started to say something, but it wouldn’t have been heard. Tom was asleep. Totally relaxed and feeling good all over, Mary joined him in the arms of Morpheus.

  Sometime later…

  Tom opened his eyes, adjusted and saw Mary, propped on an elbow, watching. “Hello,” he said.

  “Hello yourself,” came the reply.

  He grinned, revealing his straight white teeth, “What are you doing?” he asked/

  “I’ve been watching you sleep. You must have been dreaming; I could see your eyelids fluttering,” she replied.

  “Tom?”

  “Yes?” he said.

  “I think I’m falling in love with you,” she said.

  “I fell in love with you the first time I heard you call Emily, “our daughter,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me,?” she asked.

  “You know how I am about expressing my feelings,’ he said

  “I need to hear that from you,” she said.

  “Okay. I love you Mary. Do you want it in writing?”

  “I was going to make a joke from that line, but this isn’t the time for jokes,” she said. “Did you sleep well? As for me, I slept like a rock,” she said. “It was some workout we had.”

  “Yes it was. We’ll have to do it again,” he answered. “And I did sleep well.”

  “I look forward to that time,” she said.

  He looked at the clock and said, “It’s getting late. I’d better get some coffee and get to work.”

  “You might want to get some clothes on first. You might shock Rosa.”

  He answered, “I doubt it. She used to give me baths.”

  “Not lately, I hope,” she said.

  “You’re terrible,” he said, and began putting his clothes on. He left the room, and softly closed the door.”

  “Love you,” she called out and then rolled over, languorously, and went back to sleep.

  Chapter 14: School Starts

  Mary met with the teacher responsible for the Grapevine Masonic elementary school. They discussed the books, the lesson plans, and the students level of interest in school. Mary was not surprised to find the level of interest to be low, but she was surprised to find the books to be essentially the same as those she had used in Hagerstown. They also talked about what would be expected of the students when they moved on to the next level. She was shocked by the number of students who didn’t make it through the entire elementary level and how few of those went on to high school.

  She had picked up the books from the repository and taken them to the Lazy H where they would be taken to the church building on the first day of school.

  Later, she told Tom what she had found. “Once they’re past the point of learning to read and write, they are ready to drop out,” she said. “I wonder how much of that is influenced by the parents, and what we can do about it.”

  “Probably, but not a lot you can do about it. When they are old enough or big enough to work on the ranch or farm, the parents are ready for the help. James and I were lucky that Maw made us go to school. I’m sure I would have dropped it if I had been allowed.”

  “You were fortunate,” Mary said. “There is so much more to life than roping cattle. I hope to expose you and Emily to that,”

  The Lonesome Dove Baptist Church had agreed to let the church building be used for school. They only asked in return, that it always be left in condition for the Sunday services. She and Tom made things ready for the children.

  On the first day, the children were in the yard early and when Mary rang the hand bell they had purchased, they moved inside the building. Mary separated them by age and set about trying to determine where they were in the learning process. She found some of the younger children were further along than the older ones.

  “I don’t want you to feel badly if some of your friends seem to know more than you do. They have simply had more opportunity to learn. You will catch up, if you do the assigned work and pay attention in class. She went to each group to determine who could read and write, who knew the alphabet and about their math skills.

  It was worse than she expected. She was appalled at what she found. She decided to start with the most ba
sic, by teaching them the alphabet and the sounds each letter carried with it. She told them, “Some of this you are going to find easy, and you will know more than you realize.” Not surprising, Emily, who had just turned six was one of the more advanced in reading.

  She couldn’t have put the name to it, but Mary was using phonetics in reading. Sounding a letter, putting another letter with it and continuing until they created words. By the end of the third week, all twelve of the children knew the alphabet. The younger ones were like sponges, some of the older ones didn’t want to be there and let it be known by ignoring home assignments and not participating in class.

  In class one day, one of the older boys challenged her about the need for school. “I'm going to be a cowboy and work on Paw’s ranch. What good will these letters do me? Will it make me a better roper?” he asked.