by Faye Sonja
James took the shovel from her hands and she had burst blisters on her hands, just under her fingers. Her soft, tender skin. He’d have to clean and bandage them so they didn’t get infected. He didn’t deserve any wife, let alone a young woman such as Adeline. He ought to go back to being alone and keep it that way.
She limped beside him as he made his way back to the farmhouse. He’d have to attend the horses or they’d fall ill. First, he’d get the fire stoked and the kettle on. He still had the shortbread tucked away in the inside pocket of his coat. That should help stop the hunger pangs while he made a quick supper.
He’d vowed in his letters to take Adeline to his mother to learn some basics about cooking. He couldn’t take her in this state, though; his mother still wielded a mean clip up the ear. Adeline was showing extreme weariness and pain so he scooped her up in his arms.
“James, put me down. You’re in no state to be carrying me about.”
“I’ll carry my bride, if it pleases me.” James was surprised when she fell silent. “A bride should be carried over the threshold for luck.”
Adeline never answered. He wondered if she might be upset with him for the way he’d carried on. He set her down briefly to unlatch his door. Then, he lifted her again and over the threshold he stepped. “Welcome home, Mrs. Blair.”
“Even though my God and I brought the storm?”
So she hadn’t forgiven that trespass. He’d been a God-fearing man until he lost his wife and child. Then it all seemed so pointless.
“I was out of sorts.”
She watched him as he set her down in the chair, and moved to stir the ashes in the wood stove. A few embers remained, and he placed a heap of dry kindling on top and they burst into flames. The black kettle was full, so he moved it over to where it would boil the quickest.
“Are your hands hurting?”
“A little.”
“I need to go dress down the horses. I’ll get supper when I return.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the shortbread. “Nibble on this for now. I’ll get you some water. When I come back I’ll bathe and dress your hands.”
When he was satisfied she was as comfortable as she could be under the circumstances he left for the barn. On the way he fretted about the damaged crops and how his harvest would be now, if he even had one. The wheat, almost ready to harvest, would be full of moisture again. Vermin and mold would be a major threat.
He just hoped his new wife would stay after his temper, something he needed to work on. Would she really honor their marriage, for better or for worse, or would she leave when the reality of how hard it was to survive and make money out here sank in? He sighed. Adeline couldn’t be more different from his first wife if she tried. Polar opposites. Perhaps he hadn’t thought this through.
Adeline was a very beautiful woman. She carried herself in a regal manner, yet her attitude was all about going the extra mile. He didn’t think she was the type to want out of the marriage arrangement. He, on the other hand, could be another story. He couldn’t believe that a man hadn’t taken Adeline Archer and loved her for all she was worth.
Adeline watched her husband close the door and she sat in silence for a moment. She studied her hands. Not too bad now that they were dry. She sipped her water and nibbled on her shortbread. The sweet, crumbly texture was one of her favorites. She never thought she’d like another shortbread more than Mary’s, their cook in New York. But this was equally as good.
She must look a frightful mess. James had helped her get the jacket off and her dress was quite dry at the top. She studied the bottom of the skirt, which hadn’t fared so well. That would take some scrubbing out. Another thing she’d never done.
She couldn’t get changed until James brought her case in. She pushed her aching body up to stand and took a look around. Two bedrooms, one quite small. A small bunch of flowers sat on the side table near the bed. What a lovely thought. There was a sitting room off the kitchen and also another room which probably would’ve been a formal dining room back home.
She wasn’t sure she’d be inviting guests around, not until she’d had time to practice in the kitchen. This was all so different from her life before. She imagined her life with Lex Baxter and a deep shudder went through her. Tomorrow she’d ask for her first cooking lesson. With the grace of God his mother would be patient and kind in her teachings.
Adeline’s stomach rumbled and she made her way back to her seat by the warm stove to eat a little more shortbread. On her way she looked into another room. A grand four poster bed, which looked out of place in this simple timber home, stood in what was clearly the marital bedroom. Would James expect her to sleep with him? She guessed at some stage she would. But the arrangement by letter was for her to have her own room for starters.
It was an hour before James came back in with her things. “Here we go. I’ll do some supper. How’re your hands?”
“Much better, thank you. I think I’d prefer sleep over supper; the shortbread has filled me. I hope you won’t be offended.”
“The way you worked tonight, I couldn’t be offended. You’ll be needin’ a good breakfast.”
“Sounds wonderful. Would you be so kind as to bring my things into my room?”
Before long, Adeline lay under several thick, soft, woolen blankets. She wondered how her mother and sisters would fare in such an environment. She hoped her sisters’ husbands would be kind to them. She also wondered if Lex Baxter would accept a monetary payment and not bother to seek them clear across the country.
They’d be married anyway; she was sure he would see reason. The bed was heaven. No more thoughts of Lex Baxter. Adeline sent a final, silent prayer that all would be better than James feared in the morning when the sun came up.
* * *
“It’s much worse than I feared. You should go back to New York. I’ll have the marriage annulled. There’s nothing here for you, Adeline.” James looked despondent when he turned to her.
“I’ll do no such thing.”
“Without this crop, there’ll be no farm, no money. Nothin’.”
“Then we’ll start over. God has a plan. You must have faith.”
“God ? God sent the storm.” He almost shouted and he raised his arms in the air. “His only plan for me is ruin.” James dropped his arms back to his sides and looked down to the ground. “I’m sick of fighting. If He has a plan for me, it’s not here in California as a farmer.”
“There must be something we can salvage.”
“The crops ready for harvest are waterlogged and the taller green ones are whipped down to the ground. The half-grown ones will be a month away yet.”
“Then we wait a month.”
“Without this harvest, there’s no money. I need another year before it’s officially mine from the government. Each of my cousins took neighboring farms last year. Both of those are successful. If I can’t do it after four years, it’s not going to happen.”
“So your letters were all lies? You don’t own this land?” Adeline felt sick despite her cheery attitude when she awoke. What did this mean? She’d been open and honest with him, and she’d expected the same courtesy. This was the rest of their lives.
“Not lies exactly. It never storms this time of year. I was expectin’ a harvest.”
“I find it dishonest that you never explained the ownership to me in our correspondence, especially when I was very open about my situation.” Adeline, above all things, hated dishonesty. After what her pa had done, trust was everything to her.
“You got your way out. Nothin’s changed. Unless you expected a wealthy farmer.”
“I didn’t. But at the very least, I expected an honest man. I can’t be married to someone I can’t trust.”
“Good. Because I’ve decided to get an annulment.”
Adeline knew her face was red, but not from embarrassment, from anger. “We had an agreement. I’ve stuck with my end of the bargain so far. You can’t send me back there. Only a monster wou
ld do that.”
James frowned and his voice raised just a notch. “You’re too vibrant, too intelligent. I’ll stifle you with hard work and never having enough to make ends meet.”
“So I have to go because I’m not plain enough? Yes, I’m clever, I’m educated. But what good is that if I never get a chance? Here I can use my brain and my cleverness to become a business woman. To make this work for both of us.” Adeline’s hands shook a little and she gripped on with the other to stop the panic rising inside her. James had to let her stay. He must. They had a deal and she’d signed the marriage license.
“So, I let a woman come in and succeed where I couldn’t?”
“It’s your ego that’s troubling you, I see. There’s so much you can do that I can’t. We’ll be a partnership. Women in these parts do for themselves, Mollie told me.” Adeline turned to James and held his arm. “You must let me try, James. Even if I sign an agreement saying the whole farm and profits are yours and I’ll never claim anything, you have to let me try. You have to let yourself be a success. God has brought us together for a reason.”
“He’s brought you here to further point out my inadequacies as a farmer.”
“So stop being a farmer and start being a business man. See opportunity. Grasp it with both hands. What’s one more year of trying? You have nothing to lose.”
His body stiffened and Adeline waited to be told to repack her bags. She’d pushed him too far.
* * *
6
Achievement
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“ From a woman wanting to be
spinster to a mail order bride. "
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One month later
“I’ve sold out.” Adeline clapped her hands when James came in from checking the almost-ready wheat crops. “It’s only lunch time and I have no pies left.”
“Those miners are hungry goers.”
“Luckily we are on the edge of the mining lease here. It’s on the way for most of them. I can’t wait until Amelia gets here next month. I can produce twice as many fruit pies with her help.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Adeline smiled. She’d been selling her pies for one dollar each for one month exactly. Every weekday evening, she baked one hundred pies. Saturdays she gathered and bought all the produce she couldn’t supply herself. Her mother-in-law had shown her a fast, sweet pastry and how to prepare the fruit. Sundays she went to church to praise the Lord and be thankful.
James sniffed the air. “You didn’t count the pies wrong? Might be one left for me.”
“I’ll save you one from tomorrow’s batch. But I do have one thousand dollars.”
James dropped his hat on the table and sat down on the chair with a plonk. His eyes were wide and his brows were raised. “One thousand? That’s a lot of money.”
“Is it enough to buy one of those harvesting contraptions I see you staring at in the papers?”
James gave her a bright smile that made her smile as well. Maybe they did have enough money for one.
“Bless your observation, Addie. Even if we could afford one, we can’t afford the thirty horses to pull it.”
Adeline’s mood deflated. “We aren’t losing this harvest. What can we do?”
“Perhaps we could pay a team of workers.” James looked serious.
Adeline jumped on that idea. “Of course. The train brings Chinese and Mexicans here to find work. We could hire a team and pay them fairly.” She searched James’ face for approval. She saw none.
“There’s a lot of locals against the foreign workers. It could buy trouble.”
“It’s no one else’s business who we employ. Are we going to find a team of Americans to work daylight till dark harvesting our wheat by hand and get to work on time every day? Not likely.”
“I’ll think on it. I’ve just the person to ask.”
“I’ll be led by your judgment. But you will need help, and you shouldn’t be too proud to ask for it. A clever businessman knows when and what to delegate.”
James looked thoughtful. “Maybe you could get help with the baking.”
“Wonderful idea, James. I knew I could count on you to make the right choice. In God’s eyes we are all his children, no matter where we’re born.”
“It’s not definite I’ll employ anyone.”
“I’ll wait and see then, shall I? I’d best get to stewing tomorrow’s fruit. It may be a late supper tonight.”
James looked at her as if he knew exactly what she was up to, mentioning how busy she was. He shook his head and lumbered back out the door with the sandwich that Adeline had made earlier in his hand. “Maybe I might get a pie, if I get help,” he mumbled loud enough for Adeline to hear.
She couldn’t repress her giggle at his teasing. They’d been getting along famously well. The farm was still hanging on by a thread but this harvest would be exported for a lot of money. James had the foresight to plant his wheat crops in three successions, believing Eastern wheat types would still grow well later here, as it was so warm in California most of the year.
It was one gamble that had paid off. Now he was one of a few farms that had wheat to export and while it was a mere handful by some farms in comparison, the money would mean a great deal to them. This was why getting it harvested with care was so important.
Adeline picked up the first bushel of apples from the Gleeson’s orchard. They’d stored them in a cool barn from the winter crop. It’d been a bumper apple season and the markets were in full supply, pushing the prices down.
Mrs. Gleeson had quipped about how she wished they could keep them till summer when apples were scarce, so the story went, and Mr. Gleeson set about doing just that. He built a small outbuilding with thick walls that kept the heat out. But some of the apples were now spoiling. Perfect for Adeline’s pies, and at least a little extra income for the Gleesons.
Adeline was proud of her little business, and proud she’d learned to bake very good pies. But she was most proud of how the locals supported her. She bought goods from ladies who’d never thought to sell off excess eggs, all the way to major businesses who supplied her bulk flour at good prices. She couldn’t wait to get the help of her sisters and ma and then she’d put her whole lunch idea into practice. A packaged picnic with tasty treats.
She’d written her ma frequently and as far as her ma could see, Lex Baxter was not wise to Adeline’s departure. Amelia would be out next month to marry James’ cousin, Jack Blair. He was a nice young man. He worked hard but his flair for farming left a little to be desired. For some reason his farm was still going strong.
James thought his cousin to be very good at farming. Adeline suspected a lot was down to luck and fertile, new soil. She knew that faraway look in his eyes. He yearned for something he couldn’t have. She’d seen it in her sister, Amelia, many times. Maybe Jack and Amelia would be too much alike. Amelia saw the good in everything, and was a hopeless romantic.
Averill was writing young Jacob. How that would end up was anyone’s guess. But Averill would be travelling out with ma, so it would remain to be seen if she married him or not. As long as her youngest sister was out of Baxter’s clutches, that was all that mattered. What he’d threatened to do to her was unthinkable.
James picked that moment to pop his head through the open door. “I’m riding to check the far fields.”
“Very good. Will I see you for afternoon tea?”
“Perhaps a late one.”
Adeline nodded and went about humming and peeling apples. For a man who didn’t want love, he was a very considerate husband. He’d never asked her to share his bed. Yet, she knew if her ma was to stay until she found a place to settle then she would need to be sleeping in James’ bedroom.
Perhaps it was time they discussed their sleeping arrangements. Despite the fact that love wasn’t to be involved, it didn’t mean they couldn�
�t have a family if James so wished. Adeline wasn’t opposed to a couple of children to share life with now.
Here on the farm had made her less self-centered than her New York lifestyle. If James wanted children she would certainly discuss it with him. Her face flooded with heat. She shouldn’t be thinking about such things while there was work to be done.
* * *
James took the horse to where his wagon wheel had come adrift and tied the horse to a tree. He walked into where Frank had served him rice and tea while the others fixed his wheel. If they were still there, he was going to ask them about working on his farm just for the harvest. They were good people, and he owed them a favor. Plus, he trusted Frank, and that didn’t happen often for James.
While he walked, he thought about Adeline. He was the luckiest man to have ever gotten a mail order bride. She was vibrant and exciting. Beautiful and caring. Her no-nonsense attitude got things done. It had been a while since James’ heart had felt satisfied with his decisions and the path his life was taking.
He and Adeline got along well, for the most part. There were some minor disagreements over business at times, but all was resolved. He still hadn’t ventured any information on his former wife and the loss of her and his child during the birth. He still couldn’t bring himself to broach the subject. Perhaps she’d heard from someone else, his ma, a gossip in Goldrush…any number of people might’ve told her by now.
Except for him, he hadn’t. Couldn’t. Just having Adeline there used to make him feel like he was cheating. But now he was at peace with it.
To have his wife and child taken from him when the most dishonest man in the state had six children and counting, a suffering wife at home and countless other mistresses on the side, seemed mighty wrong. James only wanted a wife to love and two children, yet the Lord saw fit not to provide those. He had a hard time relying on Heaven for anything these days, despite Adeline’s insistence that he should remain faithful. But she didn’t know the real reason for his confusion of faith.
