His Convenient Wife

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  She stopped to take a deep breath and released it. Frustrated, she bit into her scone and stared at the fireplace where the fire crackled and warmed the room.

  To her surprise, Rose placed her hand on her arm and squeezed it. “You do deserve someone who loves you more than anyone else.”

  She relaxed and smiled. “Thank you, Rose.”

  “The right man will come along. At the risk of sounding like I’m praising myself, you’re beautiful and can turn the heads of many men.”

  Considering they were identical twins, Harriett had to laugh. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  She returned her smile and took a sip of tea. “It’ll happen, Harriett. You’re going to find the man of your dreams who’ll love you so much he’ll do anything to make you happy.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Don’t hope. Know it. Know it’ll happen and it will.”

  “Alright.” She took another deep breath. “I know it.”

  “There you go. Your true love will find you soon.”

  Harriett could only hope her sister was right.

  Chapter Two

  March 1908

  “I’m twee. I’m twee,” Maggie called out as she banged the highchair she was sitting in.

  Stan glanced over at her and smiled. “That’s right. Today’s your birthday.”

  Wiping his brow, he continued scrambling the eggs, hoping in his rush to get breakfast on the table, he wouldn’t end up burning them like he did the last couple of days. She wouldn’t eat them if they were burnt, and he was out of bread and butter to offer her in its place. He needed to get to the mercantile today. They barely had enough staple items to get them through the day. He never should have waited so long to go to town, but with the last snowstorm that passed through, he hadn’t dared take the risk of having the wagon slip off the road. He would have if it’d just been him, but he couldn’t do it when he had a young girl to think about.

  With a glance out the window, he was assured that the last of the snow was still melting. It was a sunny day, and having just been out in the barn to tend to the animals, he knew it was warm enough for Maggie to be comfortable in her coat, hat and mittens…as long as she didn’t throw them off again.

  He took the skillet off the cook stove and placed the eggs on the two plates he set out on the table. Good. They were just right. Relieved, he put the skillet aside and grabbed two forks then filled up their cups with milk.

  “Eat up, Maggie,” he said as he sat down next to her. “We’re going to have a long trip into town.”

  And today, he was going to do it with her. He’d imposed on his parents too much. If he wanted everyone to treat him like a man, he needed to act like one. And one of the ways he could do that was to take his adopted daughter into town with him. Even though he was nervous, he knew he could do it. After all, if women could take their children into the mercantile, there was no reason why he couldn’t do it.

  “No want it,” she said and pushed the plate away.

  Sighing, he gently pushed it back to her. “Please eat it. I don’t have anything else.”

  “Want bread.”

  “I don’t have any more bread. This is all I got. I’ll make some later today. Eat the eggs.”

  “No.”

  She crossed her arms and shook her head. Usually, the action would have made him laugh because of the way her blonde curls hit her face when she moved her head that fast. But today, he didn’t think it was so cute.

  “I’ll tell you what,” he began, hoping she’d agree to the bargain he was about to make. “If you eat the eggs, I’ll get you candy when we’re at the store.”

  “Want bread.”

  “But I don’t have bread.”

  Her lower lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. He knew she was going to cry before she tilted her head back and let out a mournful wail that would make someone think her favorite doll got ruined.

  With a groan, he got up and searched the pantry, but there wasn’t anything there he could make in a hurry that would please her, and he had to get to town before the day got too long. He returned to his seat. “Please eat the eggs, Maggie. I promise I’ll make bread when we get back from town.”

  He continued to plead with her for another few minutes, but it was no use. She refused to eat, and there was nothing he could do to make her. He quickly finished both of their eggs and rinsed the dishes before he took her from her high chair.

  “Hungry,” she said as he gathered her coat and hat.

  “I know you’re hungry. That’s why I’m going to pick up some food in town. It’ll be alright. You won’t be hungry for long.”

  After he got her ready to go out, he put his own things on then picked her up and hurried out the door.

  ***

  “I’m surprised you wanted to come into town today,” Harriett’s father said as he pulled the wagon to a stop in front of the mercantile. “Did your ma want to be sure I didn’t forget something?”

  Noting the twinkle in his eye, Harriett chuckled and shook her head. “No. I just wanted to come to town.” She couldn’t really explain why, except that she felt restless after being stuck home during the long and cold winter months.

  “Would you like to see Rose while you’re here?”

  “You wouldn’t mind taking me to see her?”

  “I wouldn’t mind seeing her, too.”

  Excited, Harriett waited until her father came around to her side of the wagon before she got down from it.

  “Do you have the list your ma wrote?” he asked as they went up the boardwalk.

  “Yes. I brought it with me in my purse.”

  She loosened the strings on her purse and was ready to pull the folded paper out when someone ran into her from behind. She spun around and saw a little girl who was giggling and holding a man’s hat in her hands. Before the girl could dart off, Harriett bent down and picked her up.

  “Down,” the girl said, her blonde curls bouncing against her bonnet. “Want down.”

  “I can’t do that,” she kindly told the girl. “Your ma or pa will worry if they can’t find you.” She looked at her father. “Do you know who she belongs to?”

  He shrugged. “I haven’t seen her before.” He smiled at the girl. “What’s your name, honey?”

  “Maggie,” she replied.

  Harriett’s eyebrows furrowed. Maggie? As in the girl Stan Craftsman adopted?

  “I’m sorry,” a familiar voice said, out of breath.

  She and her father turned around in time to see a flustered Stan hurrying up the boardwalk.

  “She ran off when I was putting a crate in my wagon,” Stan explained. “I thought if she held my hat, she’d behave.” He held his arms out. “I’ll take her.”

  “Papa,” Maggie said with a giggle as she held her arms out to him.

  Harriett handed her over to him and watched as Maggie placed the hat on his head. It tilted to the side then fell off.

  “I got it,” Harriett’s father said before Stan bent down to retrieve it. “Looks like you got your hands full.”

  “Yeah, she’s quick,” Stan replied then glanced at Harriett. He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to her father. “I’m really sorry. I don’t take her to town much, but we needed to get some food and—”

  “Bread, bread,” Maggie insisted.

  Stan let out an uneasy chuckle. “I promised I’d make her some bread when we get home.”

  “It sounds like a good treat,” Harriett’s father replied and handed Stan the hat.

  “Yes. Not too hard to make either.” Stan put the hat on his head, his eyes meeting Harriett’s again before he looked back at her father. “Thank you. Both.”

  “Anytime,” her father replied as Stan carried Maggie down the boardwalk to the saddle shop. “Harriett, are you ready?”

  Stan reached for the door when Maggie threw his hat off his head and laughed.

  “Harriett?”

  She blinked and turned her attention to h
er father. “Right. Ma’s list.” She opened the letter and gave it to him. “There’s everything Ma wants.”

  “Good. This time I won’t come back with anything I shouldn’t.”

  She smiled at his joke and followed him to the mercantile. Despite her better judgment, she glanced over at Stan and saw that he had managed to get the hat back but didn’t put it on his head, a safe bet since the little girl was insistent on throwing it off. She bit her lower lip and entered the mercantile. The last thing she wanted to do was feel sorry for Stan, but he was obviously taking on more than he could handle. A single man running a ranch with a little girl? Why weren’t his parents helping him? Surely, they would be willing to watch her while he went to town. They were nice enough people.

  She shook her head and picked up a basket to help her pa shop. It wasn’t her concern. Whatever the issue was between Stan and his parents, it wasn’t any of her business. She selected a few items she recalled from the list while her father gathered stuff from the other side of the store.

  When she was sorting through some fabrics by the window, she heard Maggie’s familiar laughter. Her gaze went to the boardwalk, and she saw Stan calling after her as he carried a saddle. Maggie ignored him and ran down the boardwalk in front of the mercantile. She then darted out into the street. Stan dropped the saddle and chased her, catching her just before a horse ran into her.

  Harriett released her breath, unaware she’d been holding it. There was no way Stan could handle taking care of Maggie on his own. He needed someone to step in and help him. He needed a mother for that little girl.

  She gritted her teeth. Maybe he needed a mother for the girl, but that didn’t mean she had to be the mother. He’d made his feelings for her abundantly clear that day at the picnic when she was foolish enough to bid on him. He didn’t love her. He loved Rose. He only proposed to her because he wanted someone to take care of Maggie.

  Harriett turned her attention back to the fabrics in front of her, but her eyes betrayed her and went back to the window where Stan was trying to pick up the saddle while holding the little girl. He lost the battle and ended up dropping the saddle.

  She’d seen enough. If she didn’t step in and do something, who would? Before she could talk herself out of it, she hurried out of the mercantile.

  “I’ll hold her while you get the saddle,” she called out.

  Stan stopped trying to balance Maggie on his knee while reaching for the saddle and straightened up.

  She held her arms out. “I’ll hold her and carry her to the wagon.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” he softly said.

  “I know I don’t, but I will.”

  After a moment, he nodded and handed Maggie to her. “Thank you, Harriett.”

  While he picked up the saddle, she looked at the little girl and smiled at her. The girl, in turn, smiled back. “What happened to her mother?” Harriett asked Stan. “I know her father died in an accident, but I never heard about a mother.”

  He lifted the saddle and led her to his wagon. “Her mother didn’t want her.”

  Her steps slowed for a minute, but then she picked up her pace to walk beside him. “Are you telling me she gave birth to her and dropped her off at the father’s doorstep?”

  “Yep.” He stepped off the boardwalk and headed for his wagon. After he flung the saddle into the back, he turned to face her. “They weren’t married and one thing led to another when they were alone. It wasn’t planned, and he didn’t want to marry her—”

  “He should have,” Harriett interrupted. “It would’ve been the decent thing to do.”

  “I agree with you. He should have, but he didn’t. But it does no good to argue it. She went off to be a mail-order bride and left him with Maggie. My parents used to watch her when we had to round up cattle.”

  “If they helped him watch her, don’t they help you?”

  He let out a sigh. “Yes, they do, but I’m tired of asking them for help all the time. I’m not a boy. I’m a grown man.”

  “No one’s going to think you’re a boy if you ask for their help.”

  He took Maggie from her. “I can’t ask them to help me every time I do something. I’ll get the hang of it. I see women with children in town all the time. If they can do it, I can, too.”

  She had to admire his desire to raise the girl on his own, but it was obvious he needed help, even if he was too proud to ask for it. But didn’t he ask for it when he proposed to her?

  He turned to put Maggie in the wagon, and she just knew she wouldn’t feel right leaving things the way they were. He was trying so hard to take care of Maggie, and his parents couldn’t be there all the time. What Maggie needed, more than anything, was a mother.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, she blurted out, “I’ve given your proposal some thought and decided to accept. I’ll marry you.”

  He looked at her, as if not believing he’d heard right. “What?”

  “I said I’ll marry you. Maggie needs a mother. A man can’t raise a girl all by himself. He needs a woman’s help, and I have experience taking care of children. I assume that’s why you asked me to marry you. Because of Maggie.”

  “Well…yes.”

  “Then I agree. But only on those terms. There will be nothing between us. In exchange for me taking care of Maggie, you will give me a place to live.”

  He winced. “It sounds like a partnership when you put it that way.”

  “That’s exactly what it’ll be. You wanted my sister, not me.” He seemed to be struggling to come up with a reply, so she saved him from having to think of what to say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just want it to be understood that we’re doing this for Maggie. I don’t want you to feel like you have to pretend you love me.”

  “I understand what you’re saying. Considering how things have been between us, I’d say your offer is more than what I deserve.” He cleared his throat. “When would you like to get married?”

  After seeing how difficult it was for him to handle a trip in town with the girl, Harriett figured he needed her help as soon as possible. “Tomorrow?”

  “A day isn’t enough time to make a dress, decorate the church, or invite guests.”

  “I’m not interested in any of that. I just need time to pack my things.”

  He glanced at Maggie who was watching them. “Alright. I’ll do whatever you want. Did you want me to talk to a preacher about conducting a small, informal affair?”

  “There’s no need. My uncle’s a judge. He can marry us. Tomorrow’s Saturday so he won’t be at the courthouse. I’ll come over with him. Don’t worry about dressing in your Sunday clothes.”

  He hesitated for a moment then asked, “Am I right to assume you don’t want any of our family there to witness it?”

  “I’d rather keep it simple. There’s no sense in making this something it really isn’t.”

  “Harriett?” a familiar voice called out.

  She turned her gaze in her father’s direction and saw he was standing at the mercantile, holding the door open. Her brother, Jacob, was beside him. Looking at Stan, she said, “I better go explain things to my pa.”

  “I should go with you,” Stan said.

  She almost argued with him but realized he was right. If he was going to marry her, it was best if they made the announcement together. Her father was going to be in for a shock. She could only hope he wouldn’t say anything until after Stan left. She waited until Stan had Maggie back in his arms before leading him to the mercantile.

  “Hi there, sis,” her brother said. “I thought you were trying to avoid me by bolting out of my store.”

  “No, I wasn’t avoiding you,” she greeted.

  She stepped onto the boardwalk, very much aware that Stan was behind her. Even knowing what she was getting herself into, she couldn’t deny the way her heart skipped just by having Stan so close to her. This was a fool’s thing she was doing. No good would come of it. Wait. Tha
t wasn’t true. She would make a home for Maggie. That was why she should do it. Had any other woman volunteered for the job, Harriett would be off the hook. But no one else was willing, and she wasn’t one to shirk responsibility when something needed to be done.

  “I was just talking to Stan.” She gestured to Stan and Maggie. “Maggie’s young, and she has no mother to take care of her. And Stan is trying to manage a ranch all by himself, and I thought it’s hard to do that with a little girl. She needs a mother, and I like children so I thought…” She paused when she realized she probably wasn’t making much sense. Taking a deep breath, she calmed her nerves as much as she could. “Anyway, I told him I’d marry him so I can be her mother.”

  Jacob’s eyebrows rose, but it was her pa who spoke up. “Harriett, can I talk to you for a moment?”

  Without glancing at Stan, she followed her pa further down the boardwalk.

  When they were out of earshot of everyone else, he turned to face her. “Are you sure this is something you want to do?”

  “Yes,” she replied, studying the drawstring purse dangling from her arm.

  “But he came out in December to ask you to marry him, and you said no.”

  His tender voice made her look up at him. “You saw how much trouble he’s having with Maggie. He needs someone to help him.”

  “You have a good heart, Harriett. Ever since you were a little girl, you wanted to help every living thing that was hurt. But this isn’t like one of the birds that broke its wing or a calf that didn’t want to drink its mother’s milk. You’re talking about marriage. This is a lifetime commitment.”

  “I understand that.”

  “Well then, isn’t it best to wait until a man comes along who loves you?”

  She stared down at her drawstring purse again, unable to hold his gaze. What if no such man did come along? It wasn’t like anyone had even asked to court her. She’d had no offers, not even from the couple of boys Rose said were creepy. At least this way, she’d have a husband—albeit one in name only—but it was better than living with her parents for the rest of her life. And she liked Maggie. Sure, the girl had a mischievous side to her, but she was cute and had a lot of spirit. In a lot of ways, Maggie reminded her of Rose.