The Widower's Bride: A Golden Valley Story (The Brides of Birch Creek Book 3)

by Laura D. Bastian

  Once all the wagon was unloaded, he climbed back onto the seat and spoke over his shoulder. “I’ll go unhook the wagon, then take care of the animals. We’ve already eaten, so I’d appreciate it if you’d unload the crates, and look around the place to get yourself familiar. Missy can show you all the things, too.” Jed looked at his oldest. “Missy, show her where the cold cellar is.”

  “Yes, Papa.” Missy waved at him as he drove away then grabbed Grace’s hand to lead her into the house.

  Just knowing his children would be cared for while he took care of the other things around the farm helped ease his burden immensely. He’d worried as he drove down the stretch of road toward his house that he would feel guilty for bringing another woman here. He’d even looked over at the small grave and marker under the tree, expecting to feel shame and heartache, but instead, he only felt the familiar sadness of missing his dear wife.

  Grace was a different kind of wife anyway. She would just be there to help him work. Someone to care for the children so he could keep the farm going. They’d dedicated too much of their lives to give it up now, and with Grace here, the farm could continue on. And if the crop of wheat turned out well, they could have enough money to get some sheep to start a flock he could then sheer for the wool.

  Jed hurried through his chores, knowing he’d need to get back to the house and show Grace where things were in case Missy didn’t remember it all. Running a household shouldn’t ever fall to a child of five years. Once he’d fed the animals and milked Tess, he headed back to the house with the two buckets of milk. Hopefully Grace would know how to use the milk and cream for making butter and cheese. If not, he’d have to show her how. But then that was much easier than trying to teach a child.

  When he walked into the house, he was amazed at the transformation. The wooden floor had been swept much better than little Missy could manage. The crates had been unpacked and though some of it was still on the table, most seemed to have been put away.

  Lottie and Missy were on the floor with a book that must have been Grace’s because he’d never seen it before, and Grace had Milo on her hip as she looked around the kitchen to find more places to put the supplies from the mercantile. When the door closed and they realized he was there, Grace turned and smiled at him, then looked at the things she’d yet to put away.

  “I’m not sure where some of these things go. And I hope the places I put things won’t be a problem. I also wondered if I might make some changes to the kitchen shelves?”

  Jed looked around the kitchen, picturing Lizzie as she worked and cooked and part of him wanted to say no. To refuse to let her change things. But he knew he had to make some allowances, especially since she was there to help.

  “I hope they won’t be big changes. I don’t want to upset the children too much.”

  Grace looked at the girls playing in the main part of the house. “Just a few of the supplies in closer reach. The types of ingredients I use more than others. I’ll leave the shelves and furniture as it is.”

  “Sounds reasonable,” Jed said. “Is there anything you need me to help with now?”

  “If you’d look through what’s still in the crates and on the table, and put those where you want them. I think I can manage the rest.”

  “Did you look at the rooms?” Jed asked. “Should I move the children in with me?”

  Grace looked to the two rooms off the main part of the house. “I thought maybe it would be best if Milo and I were in the same room. That way if he fusses in the night, I can take care of him without it waking you. If the two girls could sleep with you, or maybe even on the floor, then I’ll take their bed. We could also get started on making me a bed so the girls can have their own bed back.”

  “Might take a while to get a real mattress, but when we first came here, we stuffed some straw into a mattress cover. That could do for a time.”

  “That’s fine,” Grace said. “With how tired and fussy Milo is, I think it’s time to retire. Tomorrow I’ll finish cleaning things up and get a better idea of what I might need to do. It will be good to have Missy here to tell me where things are.”

  Jed nodded and gathered the two little girls. “You’ll come sleep on my bed, while Milo and Miss Grace take your room. We’ll figure out more about where to sleep later.”

  “But why isn’t she gonna sleep on your bed with you?” Missy asked. She looked between Jed and Grace with all the innocence of a child.

  “She wants to get used to being here,” Jed said after a moment.

  “Oh, so she’ll sleep with you later?” Missy asked.

  Jed felt heat rise up his neck and he nodded. “No more questions. Let’s just get you to sleep. You’ll have a lot of work to do to show Miss Grace what to do here. I hope you’ll be a good helper.”

  “Yes, Papa. We’ll help.” Missy headed into her room and when he called to her she replied. “I’m getting my night dress. And Lottie’s too.”

  “I’ll help you get ready for bed,” Grace said, walking into the children’s bedroom. He followed them in and helped the girls gather the things they would need for the night. Lottie grabbed her rag doll that Lizzie had made for her last Christmas and Missy took her blanket off the bed since it was what Lizzie had made for her very own when Missy complained about Lottie stealing all the covers. When Lottie saw her take the blanket, she pulled off the other one.

  “You can’t take the blanket from Miss Grace,” Jed said.

  “Don’t worry,” Grace said. “Annabelle gave me a quilt. I’ll be just fine with that.”

  The girls carried their items out of the room and into Jed’s room while Grace remained and set about moving things around to where Milo would be in his small trundle bed nearby. She changed the boy and put him in his sleeping clothes, then tucked him to bed and turned around to see him still watching her.

  “How well does he sleep through the night?” Grace asked.

  “He’s done well sometimes, other times he cries a lot.”

  “I’ll just see how things go then. Do you want to wake me in the morning? I can make breakfast.”

  “I’ll wake you as I leave. You can feed the children. I’ll make myself some eggs before I go.”

  “All right,” Grace said then walked past him into the main room where her trunk was. She took one handle and was about to lift it, but he joined her quickly and took it from her.

  “Let me do that.”

  “Thank you, Jed.” Grace said, then picked up the quilt that Annabelle had given her. She followed him into the room and waited by the door as he placed her trunk down near the wall.

  “Have a good night, Grace,” Jed said as he left the room and closed the door. He moved into his room with the two girls and got them all settled onto the side of the bed where Lizzie had always slept. It was hard to not have her there with him, but knowing the girls would likely toss and turn through the night made him less than excited to climb into the bed. But he was tired and needed to wake early to finish plowing that field so he could plant his crop. With a couple days of hard work, he might be able to catch up. And now that he didn’t have to return home in the middle of the day to check on the children, he’d get so much more accomplished.

  As he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling above him, he realized how blessed he was to have found a helper. A man couldn’t do it all on his own.

  ***

  Grace checked on Milo once more and smiled to see he was asleep. The sweet boy needed his momma, and she was heart-broken he would never know her, but she vowed she would do her best to raise these children the way Lizzie would have wanted them raised.

  She lay on the bed and pulled the new quilt from Annabelle up to her chin. The nights were still cool though the days were warming enough that the approaching summer promised to be hot. She wasn’t sure how different things would be here in the Idaho territory than they had been in New York.

  Susan and Annabelle had given her only a few details about her new town, but until she a
ctually lived through it, she would always wonder how different things would be.

  Of course, a lot of it was still the same. She would be able to figure out how to cook on this cook stove just like she had with her brother’s stove. And for the most part, the keeping of a house and caring for children wouldn’t be hard to manage. She just hoped she’d learn how to help with the garden and the animals. If Jed was planning on growing that much wheat and then eventually getting sheep to care for, he would be gone for most all of each day. The things close to home would be her responsibility.

  It was nice that the children were getting old enough to help out. Milo would be a long time before he could help do chores, but Missy and Lottie had already proved themselves helpful.

  Grace allowed herself to plan out her days, trying to imagine where she might fit in some teaching opportunities to help Missy with her reading and arithmetic. They would be working side by side for a lot of the day while in the house. When Grace needed to do work outside in the garden, Missy would be inside keeping track of Milo so he didn’t hurt himself or cause a mess.

  Of course, all the planning she did now would mean nothing really. She’d just have to see how it all went when daylight came and she began her life as mother to these three children.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jed woke early though he hadn’t slept well with the movements of the two children in his bed. When he moved the blanket to get out of bed, he had to untangle one child from the top of the blanket and take the other one off his leg since she’d decided to use it as a pillow.

  The girls only mumbled a little as he moved them enough to get up, and he hurried and dressed as quietly as he could. When he reached the kitchen to make himself an egg, he saw Grace there with her hair down her back instead of up in the twist she’d had yesterday. She was wearing her dress, thank goodness instead of a night dress, but she looked sleep mussed. She had Milo on one hip as she stirred something on the stove. He stopped in his tracks but the floorboards creaked and Grace turned to look at him.

  “Good morning, Jed.”

  “Morning,” Jed said as he passed her on the way to the front door to pull on his boots. He turned back to see her still focused on the breakfast and was relieved he wasn’t being watched. It felt odd to have her in the house, but it would be her home now just as much as it was his.

  “This is almost ready. I couldn’t get Milo to get back to sleep so I thought I’d just come make breakfast. I hope you don’t mind eggs done this way.”

  Jed leaned over her shoulder to peek into the frying pan. “Don’t think anyone can mess up eggs. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

  Grace glanced at him, bringing her face closer to his. Jed pulled back and stepped around to the other side. “Let me take Milo for a moment.”

  His boy went to him easier than he had yesterday and that helped ease his worry. Milo reached up and pulled on his ear, and made a few happy noises.

  “How did you sleep?” Jed asked, looking past the boy who seemed to be well rested.

  “Very well, thank you. Milo slept all night and woke about thirty minutes ago.” She took the fry pan off the stove and moved it to the table. “How about you?”

  Jed shook his head. “Not used to all the wiggles and movements of those two. Got kicked in the face once I think.” He rubbed his chin and Grace smiled, making her brown eyes sparkle.

  “Sleeping children are often anything but peaceful.”

  Jed chuckled. “Hopefully they’ll grow out of it soon. Or maybe I’ll just make sure to get them a bed made fast. I’d have to go cut down some smaller trees, but I could get a frame done up easy enough. The mattress would be the problem. I’m not sure if there is enough fabric to put something together.”

  “Do you want me to look through the cloth here? I could get started on it.”

  “Eventually,” Jed said. “But no rush on that. It isn’t top on the list. There’s a lot to catch up on that I couldn’t do alone.”

  Grace nodded. “Should I plan on making you a lunch?”

  “I’ll just take some of those hard biscuits I had from before and some of the dried jerky. I’d hate to make you wait for me. But I’d appreciate dinner.”

  “Sure thing,” Grace said. “What time do you think you’ll return?”

  “Might be closer to five or six.”

  “I’ll be sure to have something by then. And it’ll keep until you get here. Be safe and good luck on getting it all done.”

  “Thank you,” Jed said. He ate his breakfast quickly after offering a quick prayer of thanks. He fed Milo on his lap as Grace continued to work at the counter. From what he could tell, she was mixing up some bread dough. It would be good to have some fresh bread again. So much better than the hard biscuits he knew how to make. His girls would be excited as well.

  “There is some jam still in the cellar if you’d like to use some of that. And Lizzie and I had planned on doing a bee hive. How would you feel about caring for bees?”

  Grace turned to face him. “I don’t know much about it. If you had a book or something I could read up on and learn, that would be helpful. Unless you know someone in person that could teach me.”

  “I know a bit about it,” Jed said. “I think we might be able to check with the mercantile in Birch Creek to see if there is anything like that they can order.”

  “I suppose a lot of things are learned as you go,” Grace said. “Though I do miss the library in New York. I could usually find the things I needed there. And I don’t have many books. I wonder if Birch Creek might someday be big enough for a library.”

  “You never know,” Jed replied. “In the five years we’ve been in this valley, it’s more than doubled in size. And since the railroad station was set up, it’s grown a lot. With the boarding house Mrs. Clark set up, I’d imagine there will be a lot more people coming through.”

  “I think I might talk to Susan about it. She might know someone who would be interested in coming out and establishing a library. Or a printing press. Wouldn’t that be amazing to have our own books and things printed here?”

  Jed nodded, though he didn’t really understand how that would be all that great. What would a printing press do for Birch Creek?

  As soon as he finished eating, Jed placed Milo on the floor to play with the little wooden blocks he’d carved the first winter after he’d married Lizzie and she was pregnant with Missy. Those blocks had been well used and were still a favorite among the children.

  “I’ll milk Tess this morning, then if you don’t mind, I’ll show you how to do it tonight.”

  Grace nodded and continued to knead the bread dough. He walked out of the house into the cool early morning air and headed to the barn. Knowing he was no longer alone in all of this brought a sense of relief to him. He hadn’t allowed himself to think of how hard things had been as a single father working the land and caring for his animals as well. Having someone to share the load with gave him a bit of hope they could survive out here on their own.

  When he came back to the house again, he immediately recognized the familiar scent of yeast with the bread Grace was making and the homey feeling returned. A house needed a woman. And he was happy to have one in his house. The only downside he could see was that having Grace here, doing the things his wife had done made him realize once again how much he missed Lizzie. If he wasn’t careful, he might get too used to having her here and that could never happen.

  She was here to help. Nothing more. He couldn’t betray Lizzie like that. And he’d promised Grace that he would only ask for her help with his house and children. Jed turned around after setting the milk pails down in the corner of the kitchen for Grace to take care of and left out the front door as quickly as possible. He had a lot of work to do.

  Once out on the front porch, he realized he’d forgotten his lunch and went back inside to gather it up, but saw a cloth on the table folded up nicely.

  “What’s this?” Jed asked.

  “The dried meat an
d biscuits you talked about. Wasn’t sure if there was a jug for water or anything, so I just gathered this for you.”

  “I’ll get water from the creek,” Jed said. “Thanks for this.” He picked it up and walked out again, glancing back before he closed the door. Grace was busy moving the dough into the bread pans and didn’t look at him. Which was fortunate because he was sure his study of her would make her uncomfortable.

  She was so different than Lizzie, yet still very much the same. A hard working, kind and caring human being. He just hoped he could get accustomed to her soon. He didn’t want to feel like a stranger in his own home. And if she changed things too much from how Lizzie had done things, it might make him feel even more out of sorts.

  ***

  Grace kept herself busy all morning. The girls woke up not long after Jed had left and when they saw she had breakfast ready and had loaves of bread rising for baking soon, they were giddy with joy. The girls happily helped pitch in doing the cleaning. They showed her where the washing bucket and the washboard were and helped fill it with water from the pump.

  Grace boiled some pots of water on the stove top to help heat up the water to aide in the washing of the clothes for the children. The laundry took a large part of the morning, and soon they had the clothing hung to dry. After a few days of catch up on the other things around the house and yard, she would tackle the bedding, but for now, the second pair of clothing for each of the children had been finished.

  After lunch, she looked at the girls. “While Milo is sleeping, how about the two of you show me what your momma did out in the yard and with the animals?”

  Missy took her hand and began walking quickly, but Grace slowed her down. “Give my leg a little time to catch up with you.”

  “When will your leg get better?” Missy asked.