by Tia Siren
He laughed. “You nearly knocked me off the wagon, woman!” He said in a teasing tone.
She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.
“It’s okay, Olive.” He continued to smile at her.
She pulled in a silent breath and held it for a moment, letting it out slowly. She was trying very hard not to be nervous. She was truly surrounded by strangers now. Henry was her only contact, and he was apparently dead.
“So what happened to Henry?” She asked and then was terrified she had overstepped by asking the question.
“He was thrown from his horse this afternoon and landed in the creek behind the house. Hit his head on a rock. He was gone before anyone got to him.”
“I hope he didn’t suffer much.”
Eric shook his head. “Not likely. From the size of that rock and the way he was…laying there, I don’t think he was conscious at all. Probably went like that.” He snapped his fingers. He looked at her again with worried eyes, his smile gone. He didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was. “How long did you correspond with him?” He asked the question to distract from the current topic. He didn’t want to see his brother in his mind lying in the creek bed any more than he wanted to talk about it.
“We exchanged letters for several months. I wrote four to him, the first being the initial response to his ad.”
“So he put an ad in a newspaper in the East? Where exactly are you from again?”
“I was living in a little town in Virginia.”
“Virginia is a long way from here. You must not be used to the scenery or the weather here at all.”
“No.”
“You will find that things are very different here, where that’s concerned. Most of the women who are here dress…” He eyed her. “Very differently. I see you have a lot of…clothes on. You must be hot.”
“I am surprised you could not already see that.” Once the words were out, she regretted them. It seemed she was just putting her foot in her mouth every time it opened. She would have to learn to keep quiet and not burst out with her comments willy-nilly. It was inappropriate for her to speak to him that way and she knew it. All he had to do was turn around and take her back to the train station and send her back.
When she looked up at him, however, she didn’t think he would do that. He didn’t seem at all bothered by her constant verbal flubs. Back home, she’d had to blurt out what was on her mind if she expected ever to be heard from. If one person wasn’t talking, someone else usually was. She’d never been the girl to stand in the back of the room, pressed up against the wall with her mouth shut. She tried to be polite and respectful the way her parents had trained her to be. But typically she failed at that and just spoke whenever she thought someone might be listening.
Eric was watching her face change as she thought to herself. She was quite the mystery. One moment, she looked serene and at peace. The next, her brow was furrowed, and she looked like she might become sick. He wished he could read her mind, just for a moment.
Instead, he prayed quickly for guidance. She’s a nervous sort, it seems, Lord, he thought, and I don’t want to frighten her. Let me speak the right words to comfort her and relieve her of her nervousness.
“Do you want me to tell you about my family?” He asked, keeping his voice as gentle as possible.
“That would be nice, thank you,” Olive responded.
“Well…” He began. “I was born in a stable because my ma and pa didn’t…”
He stopped when Olive started giggling and looked down at her with wide eyes. “What did I say?”
“You don’t have to go that far back.” She couldn’t help giggling while she said it and she wondered if he even understood her.
“Oh.” He started to laugh with her. “I thought you wanted the complete story.”
They both laughed.
“But seriously…” Eric finally continued when she was reduced to giggling again. “My brothers and sisters and I never had a lot when growing up, just the house we lived in. We have had to work for a long time, real hard, on the farm and in the shops to keep food on the table. My ma stayed home and taught us all to read and write. My pa worked in the grain mill for as long as I can remember. He still works there. He’s a strong, healthy man and I hope to be that way when I’m his age. In the last ten years, though, he started adding on to the family house. You would think we were wealthy.” He looked down at her. “But we’re not really.”
“Wealth means very little if you aren’t leading a good healthy life,” she responded without thinking first. “That’s good to hear, your pa is a strong man. My papa is an engineer. He works for North Eastern Trains. He develops new techniques for making trains safer for passengers and to transport goods across America.”
“That sounds like a very prestigious job. He must make a lot of money doing that.”
“He does.” Olive said bluntly. “But the rest of my family doesn’t do anything. So he’s supporting everyone.”
“Your uncle doesn’t work?”
“No. He was injured in the war and can’t walk. My aunt pushes him around in a rolling chair, and he complains almost constantly. It’s not fun to listen to him nor to be around him any more than necessary.”
Eric saw her good mood vanishing. He began to regale her with a tale of a time when he, his brothers and sisters had all gone swimming in the creek behind their house in one of the deepest holes and how a frog had jumped up on his sister’s back, scaring her so badly she screamed and almost drowned.
The way he told the story made it much funnier than it would have been. Helen had been surrounded by her siblings so there wouldn’t have been a way for her to drown.
“Unless we all turned our backs,” he concluded and looked down at her. “And we never would have done that. We may not be that close now, but when we were young, we were much closer.”
“How many years are between you?”
“Somewhat like stepping stones,” Eric responded. “There’s about a year and a half between each of us, except Amy. She was our surprise miracle.”
“Your mother must have been very happy about that.” Olive snorted. Once again, she felt her cheeks flush when the words came out.
Eric chuckled. “I’m not too sure she enjoyed those years, to tell you the honest truth. I’m sure she would have lost her mind if my pa hadn’t been there to help and Aunt Helen, too. One of my sisters is Helen, named after her. It was Henry, then me, then Helen, then Jane and then my younger brother, William and our little sister, Amy. She’s sixteen, so that’s the youngest we go. Henry has his own land and…he had his own house and property. I guess that will be sold to pay…his debts.”
Olive frowned. “Was he in debt?”
Eric shrugged. “He had some debts, yes. He was a businessman. He had debts.”
Olive didn’t say anything more about that. It was pointless to dwell on information about a man she would never meet. Since she had not married him, she was not entitled to inherit anything from him. “And where do you reside?”
“I keep a loft in town over one of the shops. Usually…” He hesitated, whistled at the horses and pulled the reins so that they would miss another large hole in the road. “Usually, I just stay at the family home. I like to be there for ma when I need to be.”
“She isn’t sick, is she?”
He shook his head. “No. Just small and frail.” He gave her another teasing grin. “Like you.”
Olive smiled at him. She may have looked small and frail on the outside, but she felt like a large wolf inside. She would repress that instinct with everything she had, for fear of losing her new home.
Chapter Three
When Eric finally announced they were close to the house and pointed it out to her, she was relieved. It was placed at the back of long path that looked like it had seen many, many wagon wheels. There was some greenery around, long strips of grass along the side of the path and trees of varying shapes and sizes giv
ing them much needed shade. She was glad to see the color because she had been afraid it would be nothing but dirt as far as the eye could see. She had, in fact, pictured something similar to the Sahara Desert, which she had never seen a picture of but was fully aware existed.
Virginia was covered in green, the mountains, the plains, the trees, bushes and shrubs. There was much vegetation in Virginia. There was very little here.
She noticed the cacti growing all around her and wondered at the different types there were. Some had round flat sections with tiny needles sticking out of them and others had arms reaching up to the sky with very long, scary-looking needles in them.
“Try to stay away from the cacti,” Eric said, noticing her staring. She turned her wide green eyes to him, and he felt his heart squeeze. He gave a nervous laugh and looked back toward the house. “Those needles are not our friends.”
She looked back at the cacti and nodded, murmuring, “I’ll surely stay away from them.”
They pulled up in front of the house, and Eric called to his mother, who was standing on the porch, waiting for them. She was holding a lantern high up in the air, which for her was about five and a half feet. Eric quickly exited the wagon and came around to the other side to help Olive down. The light from his mother’s lantern lit up the stairs and the porch so they could see.
“Thank you, ma. I appreciate you waiting out here.”
“It’s a nice night out, dear.” His mother turned her cheek toward him to receive her kiss. He greeted her by taking her hand, leaning to kiss her cheek and smiling at her.
“This is Olive Kelsey.” Eric took a step back to allow his mother to see Olive fully. “She’s the woman Henry sent for.”
“Yes.”
Olive took in the older woman with much curiosity. She didn’t look like she could be the mother of such fully grown men. Though her hair was streaked with white, the blond that it had been almost hiding that fact. Her face was nearly wrinkle-free, and her eyes sparkled in the light of the lantern as if she had just thought of a delightful prank she wanted to play on someone.
Eric took the lantern from her so that she could approach Olive.
Olive’s heart stopped for a moment, thinking she might not meet Mrs. Lewis’ approval, and she would be sent away.
Mrs. Lewis reached out to her, taking one of her hands gently. “You must be frightened beyond imagination, my girl. Why don’t you come inside and have some ham biscuits and hot tea? I would bet you haven’t eaten for many, many hours.”
“You would win that bet, Mrs. Lewis,” Olive said, the mention of food suddenly bringing sharp hunger pains to her stomach. “I would love to have a bite to eat.”
Mrs. Lewis nodded. “And I’ll bet you are exhausted, too. Ready for a good sleep?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Mrs. Lewis patted her hand softly and nodded again. “I have made up a bed for you in one of the back rooms. You will be safe and warm there. But first, we must get something in that very small stomach of yours.”
“I’d be ever so grateful for that, Mrs. Lewis.”
The older woman shook her head. “You mustn’t call me Mrs. Lewis since you will be made part of the family. You may call me Hannah. That is my given name.”
Olive felt a bit of confusion drape over her. “I…I was coming for…Henry. He’s…gone, isn’t he?”
She wished she hadn’t brought it up, but she hadn’t understood the woman’s statement and needed clarification that she wasn’t losing her mind. She took a chance and glanced at Eric, who was just standing, staring at them with a peaceful look on his face.
She wondered what he was thinking.
Hannah’s face dropped a bit. “Yes, my oldest son was killed in an accident today. We are having a feast tonight to honor him and will bury him tomorrow. You must join us for some food and wine and then off to bed you go.”
“If I drink wine, I won’t make it to the room you have prepared for me.”
Hannah laughed softly for a moment and then turned to go into another room down the hall. Olive looked back at Eric before following. He lifted one hand to indicate she should go.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Olive was surprised to hear those words. Why would Eric care what happened to her? He hadn’t been the one to send for her. She walked slowly so that he was right behind her and whispered back to him, “Why did she say I would be a part of the family when Henry is not here now?”
When Eric responded, he leaned close behind her, she could feel his soft breath on her ear. It sent violent chills down her arms and thighs, and she almost felt like fainting. She held it together, though, drawing in a deep breath as quietly as she could and straightening her spine.
“I think she’s already decided your fate, my dear. Welcome to the family.”
Olive’s eyes widened at him, and she hurried to catch up with Hannah. He straightened up again, clasped his hands behind his back and continued to walk at a normal pace, watching Olive get further away from him before turning into the room the Wake was being held. He was in no hurry. The room wouldn’t be packed with people attending a get-together in his brother’s honor. He wasn’t a well-liked man.
When he turned into the room, there were even fewer people than he expected. Then he remembered the late hour and assumed if more were here, they had already left. There was no body to look at and that suited everyone just fine. The sour look that had dominated Henry’s face would not have been something for Olive to have in her mind of the man she almost married.
Eric went immediately to a high backed cushioned chair in the corner by a large indoor plant his mother was so fond of growing. She took care of her plants as she had taken care of her children, with gentle love and firm discipline. The plants were trimmed and watered on a regular schedule that never wavered or faltered. She was a woman who liked to keep things in order, looking presentable and, in the case of her children, physically and mentally healthy. He sat there, watching Hannah take Olive around the room.
Hannah introduced her to Eric’s other brother and his sisters and brothers-in-law one by one. The older woman made no immediate mention of her being Henry’s intended bride, simply introduced her as a new friend in town. The siblings weren’t fooled, however, and began to question Eric about Olive’s sudden appearance as soon as Hannah took the girl to the kitchen to retrieve some real food and drink.
“What’s going on, Eric? Where did you find her? Where have you been hiding her?” Helen was the first one to quiz him, coming over to stand directly in front of him. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest as if she was upset but her voice and face said she was more curious than anything.
“You’re going overload the poor man, Hellie. Just let him answer one before you ask another.”
“I wasn’t speaking to you, William Lewis. And don’t call me Hellie. You know I hate that. I am just wondering where she came from, that’s all.”
Eric nodded, lifted his hands and gestured for them to calm down.
“She looks really nice, Eric.” His youngest sister smiled at him, approaching slowly to sit on the floor next to him. She ran her fingers through the carpeting, looking up at him with large brown eyes. “Did you meet her in town?”
Eric touched her nose before answering. “I did, yes. But not the way you are all thinking. It seems our eldest brother was up to something before his accident today.”
His statement was met with widespread frowns of confusion. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized how much he and his siblings looked alike. They all looked like they were frowning with the same mouth. The thought amused him, and he smiled wide.
“I know that smile, Eric!” Helen said, sternly. “You are playing with us. What are you hiding?”
Eric shook his head. “No, no, Helen. You are mistaken. It isn’t me who was hiding. It was Henry.”
“I don’t understand.” Jane spoke up for the first time fr
om her seat on the couch. She had been wrapped in her thoughts of Henry and just realized that she had been introduced to a strange woman in her mother’s home. “What’s going on?”
Her siblings glanced at her before turning their eyes back to Eric. She was just being her typical self. There was no need to inform her what the conversation was about because she would be back into her own world within moments anyway and they would have to explain it all again later.
“Eric, you need to come forth with the truth. What are you saying?”
“Our brother sent for a bride from the East.”
He was met with silent stares from his brother and sisters. He had even succeeded in making his youngest sister’s face register shock and bewilderment.
“Pardon me?” William took a step closer to him, and Eric lifted his hand in a stop motion.
“I’m telling you, that’s where Olive is from. She is from a small town in Virginia. Henry sent for her.”
“What could possibly make any woman want to do that?” Helen sounded belligerent. “I can’t imagine! Leaving your family and your home and traveling all the way…”
“That’s just the thing.” Eric interrupted her. It was uncommon for him to do such a thing so Helen’s mouth snapped shut and she stared at him with wide eyes. “She is escaping an unhappy home life, and I think you should give her a chance. She is not some wild woman who was looking for a man with money, and she has not shown herself to be loose or impudent in any way. I would appreciate it if you would give her the chance to show you who she is.”
“You don’t even know who she is, Eric,” William said. “Yet you defend her as if you are the one who called for her.”
Eric shook his head. “No, my brother. I didn’t call for her. It was Henry.”
“How do you know?”
“She showed me the letter he had sent most recently. She has others. They are in his handwriting. I would recognize it anywhere.”
“I… I don’t believe it.” Helen finally looked away and took a step back from him, her aggressiveness dissolved. She moved to the couch and let herself drop on it next to Jane.
