by Faye Sonja
“Not if she’s careful.”
“Jack, you’d better tell me.”
“Apparently Baxter says he has a promissory note and a signed letter stating what their pa owed him and that he’d offered up one of his daughters to clear his debts.”
James had no idea how any pa could do this. If he could’ve kept his little girl he would have never stopped protecting her. “So he says.”
“Well, Amelia thinks if she can find them and destroy them, then he won’t have any evidence and he can’t force them into anything.”
“That’s crazy. If she gets caught she’ll go to jail or end up married to him.”
“He’s not getting near my Amelia. I’ll go and kill him myself.”
“I don’t like the sound of this.”
“She’s a lot like Adeline when she sets her mind.”
James mounted his horse again. “Try to talk her ‘round, anyway.”
“Okay. I’ll see you at church on Sunday, then?”
“I won’t be at the service. I’ll meet the Reverend after.”
“You can’t still be blaming God for Hattie.”
James wasn’t entering that argument. He headed back to his property. He’d go and see Frank and see if Adeline needed any help. Maybe she’d cooled down a little. She was particularly ornery this afternoon. He’d ride via Frank at the old barn and see how things were there first.
Maybe Frank could come and convince Addie that she didn’t need to move Frank’s whole family in. Frank was very happy doing the harvest and buying boat passage further south, where the biggest farms were looking for gangs of workers. Frank didn’t want to bring trouble to the farm either.
All he wanted was to make a living and live in peace. James rode fast, but not too hard. He thought about what Jack has said. About why he couldn’t just love Adeline. What if he did and something happened to her? What if she was crazy enough to love him back and get with child? If he lost like that again it would destroy him. He’d rather be lonely than be hurt again.
As if she could love a simple farmer anyway. He’d plenty of muscle for manual labor and plenty of pluck for all things that didn’t involve loving and losing again. But she had intelligence and a finery about her that he could never match. If he’d seen a picture of her before she’d arrived, he would never have agreed to marriage.
Adeline Archer was just too special for the likes of a failed farmer. If it wasn’t for her, he’d have been off this land by now.
That storm would’ve been his last straw. But Adeline believed; she almost made herself ill that first night working alongside him and not even knowing what she was doing. He’d brought her down to his level. That was unacceptable. She’d kept him buoyed this past month, and now he could actually believe he’d get the deeds.
Adeline deserved to see her business dreams come to fruition, and she deserved to be loved like there was no tomorrow by someone who was her match in life; not someone like him, who could only ever dream to be so refined.
James looked up ahead and saw Frank sitting at a fire much the same as he had when James first met him. He galloped his horse over and dismounted. “Hey, Frank. How’s everything?”
“Thank you. All good. Mrs. Adeline…she not good.” Frank shook his head.
“Has something happened?” James’ heart hammered.
“Her heart is sick.”
“Has she had a heart attack?” James went to jump back on his horse and ride home.
“No. Not attack. She heart sick for you.’
James stared at him. “What’re you on about?”
“It’s truth.”
“No. Adeline made it perfectly clear love was off the table. Just like me. No one wanted love.” James smiled. Frank must be mistaken.
“Everyone want love.”
“I guess, but this is different. We had an agreement and we’re standing by that.”
“Heart not sign deal. Heart wants what heart wants. She beautiful. Like rare flower.”
Frank shuffled his feet not knowing what to say. Frank was rambling. Perhaps he’d put something in that tea of his. “I’m heading back. I’ll see you at eleven in the morning. We’ll go take a look at the ripe wheat once the dew has dried. Test and see if it’s ready.”
“Very good.”
James climbed back in the saddle and headed for home. What a crazy notion to think Adeline was in love with him.
* * *
9
Impossible
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“ From a woman wanting to be
spinster to a mail order bride. "
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Adeline was still making the pastry when she heard the horse. James had returned. He’d make his horse comfortable and feed all the horses before he came in and washed up for supper. He’d been gone a while. Had he visited a mistress? What was he hiding from her? She tried to focus on the job at hand.
Tomorrow’s batch of pies was almost ready to be put together and baked. James always helped with that. One hundred pies in a small kitchen, with only ten pie tins was tricky. But James had made her a huge wood-fired oven and also fashioned a long metal implement with a wooden handle and flat metal end to slide under the pies to get them in and out of the oven.
He’d made a cool store with shelving to house the cooked pies overnight. James had made it as easy as possible for her to succeed. Without him and his ma’s cooking knowledge, goodness knows what would’ve happened. He’d believed in her from the start, ate her pies with enthusiasm, even the ones that needed work, and let her run her business her way.
She sighed. Even after a huge argument, here he was to help. A tear trickled down her cheek. What was wrong with her? She hadn’t cried since she was small. Crying didn’t help anything, so she’d found out. Finding solutions did. She had the solution. Leave this farm and let James run it the way he wanted, and go set up her business with hired help just the way she wanted it.
First she had tomorrow’s pies to bake and pack away. The door opened behind where she worked. She felt James approaching. What could she say? Adeline didn’t feel proud of her emotional outburst, but it didn’t change her decisions.
“One hundred pies for tomorrow?” His deep voice spoke softly.
“Almost ready to fill the first ten.”
“I’ll wash up and come and put the pastry tops on.”
“Thank you.”
“Adeline, I’m sorry about earlier.”
“So am I.”
“You need a bigger place to bake these and more help. Perhaps the bakery can help you out. I know the Browns have wanted to sell up for a while with Oscar’s health problems.”
“I’m going to sort something out for next week. I’ll be telling the customers I’m taking a week off and then will be back bigger and better.”
“Good for you. Your dream of running your own business is a great success.”
“And your dream of a successful farm for one more season has happened for you.”
“With your help.”
“We helped each other.”
“Yes.” James hesitated but somehow Adeline knew what was coming. He wanted out of the marriage. “Adeline, I don’t think you need me anymore. I think you’d do better without me.”
Adeline kept furiously working with her pies, blinking back the tears. Why cry when this was what she wanted? “I see. I was thinking I’d go and see Reverend about an annulment on Sunday. We’ve given it our best but I think believing we could make this marriage work, without…love, may’ve been a little ambitious.”
“Perhaps. I’ll come to the Reverend with you after you all finish at church.” He topped the pies with pastry circles.
“Thank you.” Adeline put the first of the pies in the oven. As always, she wondered if they’d get them all done, but they seemed to manage. A quiet knock made them both look at the door.
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t opened partway and Frank stuck his head in. “You want help?”
Adeline smiled. “Oh, yes please, Frank.” She really liked Frank and she still intended to go get those women and children from wherever they were tomorrow. Next week she’d have four new helpers and the sounds of children laughing. Only then, she realized how quiet and lonely it was here at times. She really missed her family.
If she secured the bakery use for her pies, and could get Mr. and Mrs. Brown to teach her the rest, she might be running the bakery herself in six months’ time. Then she could sell out her luncheon packs. Before she knew it, or could even say anything, Frank and the other three Chinese men had set about a production line of pastry and pies. They just knew what to do.
Frank smiled. “No worry. We make you nice pie. You make us good American supper.”
“American supper? What do you want?” Adeline hoped it wasn’t too complicated. Her cooking skills still needed some work.
“Butter corn. Mash potato.” Frank grinned and rubbed his belly. “Mmmm.”
Both James and Adeline laughed. “I think I can manage that,” she said.
“I’ll go grab the corn. Do you need more potatoes?”
“I’ve plenty. I’ll get to peeling.” Adeline poured some water from her bucket into her dish to wash and peel the potatoes in.
James left with a basket and Adeline began peeling.
Frank spoke. “Thank you for want to get my wife.”
“It’s awful that they can treat you like this. I won’t hear of it.”
“They okay. They eat. They have shelter. I get boat ticket. We leave. More work down south.”
“You shouldn’t have to be run out because they don’t agree with you working here. Many more will come on the train and they can’t run them all out.”
“Maybe we come back then.”
Adeline felt her anger rising again. “You aren’t leaving. Your wives can come help me in the bakery. I’ll have them with me until I convince James to let you stay on here and work.”
“No. Much trouble. You get hurt.”
“I won’t get hurt. No one will do anything to me. They can’t. Just don’t tell James. He’ll stop me. I don’t want to fight with him again. Once I’ve left here, he can’t stop me going to get them.”
“He worry. You in his heart. He don’t know yet. Stupid white men.”
Adeline looked sharply up at Frank as he babbled in his own language and the others all laughed and made like they were crazy people. “What did you say?”
Frank looked at her. “Mr. James. He loves you.”
Her face fired up. “You are certainly mistaken. He’s made it clear, and I’ve agreed, love is off the table. This is a marriage of convenience.”
“Heart never convenient.” Frank went back to cutting pastry and filling pies just as one of the others pulled the first batch out of the hot stove.
James came back in with a basket of corn, and Adeline glanced at him and then away. There was no way James had strong feelings for her. He was supporting her moving out and getting an annulment. Even if he did, she didn’t love him. Love wasn’t in her calculations. It just made things too complicated.
“Here we go. The best corn in California. I’ll get it started.”
Adeline peeled and chopped potatoes with a speed she’d never known. She couldn’t think about her and James having feelings. It was too silly for words or thoughts. All she had to think about was getting that bakery and getting those women and children. “Can I take the buggy into the bakery in the morning?”
“I’ll have it ready at daylight. The Browns start early.” James continued to rip the husks and silks off the corn.
When Adeline’s big saucepan was almost full of potatoes, she put water in and put it on to boil. She added salt and placed on the lid. “Come, Frank. I’ll show you where we store the pies.”
Frank nodded and spoke in his own language and followed her out the door. The store was behind the main house. But that wasn’t the real reason she’d gotten Frank out here.
“Where is your wife? Where are they keeping them?”
“Near to town. Place with wheat and corn. Smaller than here. Last one before you see town.”
“I’ll call in on the way back and see if they are okay.”
Frank nodded. “Thank you.”
“Don’t tell Mr. Blair.”
Frank said nothing but he looked over the store with appreciation. “Good. Is good.”
* * *
In another two hours the last batch of pies were in and Adeline mashed the potato with cream and butter, then lathered the hot corn with butter. It was messy but smelled so good. She’d worked up quite the appetite. She put everything onto big platters and handed out plates and spoons. “Help yourself, everyone.”
The next half an hour was filled with moans of appreciation and a lot of slurping sounds as everyone ate the corn with their fingers. Adeline laughed as Frank patted his full belly.
“So good. Very good. Now we have pie. We make extra.”
“At last, I get apple pie!” James called out, and everyone laughed. Adeline didn’t know if all the Chinese men knew what he’d said, but they laughed anyway.
“You can come and buy them at my bakery, I hope, after next week.”
“I hope you get everything you’ve ever dreamed of in life.” James smiled and Adeline’s tummy fluttered.
“Same to you, James. We can still be friends and business associates.”
“We go now. Thanks. Sleep off food. Big belly no good for work. We clean in morning.” Frank smiled and he and the others left.
“Me too,” Adeline said. “I have a very early start if I’m to be back here selling those pies by morning tea time.”
“That was a good supper. They are nice people.” James smiled and stood up.
“So are their wives, I’m sure.” Adeline shouldn’t have said it, but it still bugged her that James wouldn’t go and help them.
“Goodnight, Adeline.” He walked into his bedroom and shut the door.
She never said anything, but she stared at the closed door a long time. She was making the right decision. These questions just came to make her doubt God’s plan for her. He would steer her in the right direction; she just had to look and listen for the signs. Right now everything led to her getting into the bakery and out of this marriage.
It was surely a sin to mock the sanctity of the holy union without being in love. This was why God would make it possible for her to end their union. It wasn’t a real marriage and it wasn’t the Christian thing to do. She’d ask for forgiveness on Sunday. It was the only way to make it right. Her heart beat hard and she bit her lip to stop the tears forming.
Why couldn’t she have just loved him?
* * *
10
Undeniable
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“ From a woman wanting to be
spinster to a mail order bride. "
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The meeting at the bakery had gone well. The Browns were pleased to have her offer. They welcomed it with relief as both of them struggled with the workload now, but they couldn’t afford to live without the bakery running or selling. Adeline had come to an agreement with them for smaller increments for a time and then a lump sum.
Now her heart pounded as she turned the buggy into the property she believed housed the women and children. She hoped her plan would work. She intended to tell this person he had no right to keep anyone against their will, and that the police had been notified. It wasn’t like he could just shoot her in daylight, in front of others, so he couldn’t stop her leaving with them if she wished to and they didn’t wish to stay.
The driveway was long and flanked by green wheat on one side and half-grown corn on the other. Clearly, they’d seen James’ late crops and tried it for themselves. Adeline kept the horses going at a steady pace. The ho
mestead was in sight. It certainly wasn’t small. She kept going and the closer she got, the bigger the house loomed.
She glanced at the crops in the field on her left as she pulled the horses to a halt. She could not believe what she saw. Four women, two with babies slung across their backs, and three smaller children were out in the open sun pulling weeds. They looked at her when she stopped.
Adeline jumped off the buggy and ran to them. “English? Anyone speak English?”
“Yes, yes.” The older of the ladies spoke.
“Are you Frank’s wife?”
“Yes.” Tears rolled down the Chinese woman’s face. The sun was already beating down out here in the field.
“Come with me. All of you. Hurry.” Adeline ran to the buggy. “Get in. Try and fit. You are not staying here.”
The women piled the six children in and climbed into the back. Frank’s wife sat next to Adeline up front. “Hang on, ladies.” Adeline turned the cart around and slapped the horses’ rear ends with the reins. They raced off at full speed and the ladies all cheered and the kids giggled. So much for them being scared.
She didn’t care what James said. They were not making them work out in the fields like that. It wasn’t long before one of the women cried out and Frank’s wife looked behind. “He coming! He coming!”
Adeline spurred the horses on faster, but needed to slow a little to get around the corner and onto the road for home. She estimated she’d need a good forty-five minutes, if the horses could keep up this pace for that long with this load.
One of the women screamed and the children all started to wail and cry. Frank’s wife turned again to look. “Gun! He has gun. He close.”
Adeline glanced back and saw a wiry man on a purebred horse gaining on them. He fired off a shot and she hoped he was just trying to spook them. She never stopped, she just urged the horses to keep going. “Dear Lord, please protect us.” Adeline said at the top of her voice.
