“You are good with her,” Thea said. “Do you have plans for children?”
“No set plans. We will see. I know it would be good to have them to help around the home, though. Especially if we start a farm.”
“Is that the plan then?” Jenny asked.
Bonnie shrugged. “Steven has mentioned it. I think he just wants to stop working in the mine. I don’t care what business he goes into next, really. I like it out here. It’s better than my life in Baltimore was. There, I worked till my hands were numb and most days I barely saw the sun.”
“That is likely how the miners feel,” Jenny said.
“Yes.” Bonnie sighed. She’d thought a number of times about Steve down there in the mine, far away from the fresh air and sunshine. She knew it was hard work, and the constant darkness no doubt wore him down. She hoped that, whatever venture he decided to go into, it was successful. Not only did he need to support them, but Bonnie also wanted him to be happy.
Plus, mine work was dangerous. Sometimes mines collapsed or exploded and men got hurt or worse.
Bonnie tried not to think of such dangers. She had only just found her way to Steven and did not know what she would do without him. Though she had been courted by a couple of men before, none of them had treated her as well as Steve did. In fact, the only man who compared in kindness was her late father.
“So,” Thea began, and there was a new sharpness to her voice.
Bonnie looked up and found Thea’s jaw tight. “Yes?” she asked.
“I have told Jenny about Margaret’s suspected situation.”
Bonnie glanced at Jenny. Was there something she could do?
But Jenny only looked tired. “If Mr. Hawkins is the kind of man I suspect he is, it is unfortunate.”
“You’re saying there is nothing we can do?” Bonnie asked incredulously. It just didn’t seem fair to her.
“I told Wakefield about it,” Thea jumped in.
“And I told Steve,” Bonnie said, “but his reaction was about the same. He doesn’t like the thought of her being harmed, but he seems to believe there’s very little he can do.”
“Well, what can we do?” Thea nibbled worriedly at her bottom lip.
A heavy quiet filled the room. Aria attempted to turn a page herself, and Thea reached over to do it for her.
“We can offer her friendship,” Thea decided. “Although, she seems to be resistant to that.”
Jenny made a disgusted noise. “Likely because that brute of a man doesn’t want anyone to get close to her. Once they do, they’ll see what’s going on, and he’ll be exposed for the coward he is.”
“Still,” Thea interjected, “we must offer it. That way, she will know that if she does decide to leave him, we support her. Wakefield and I have already agreed that she can stay with us should she ever need it.”
An idea struck Bonnie. “Perhaps the mail-order bride agency could match her with another husband.”
Thea twisted her lips. “I do not know. It could be that they would not do that. It might make them look bad. If they were to match women up with unsavory men, you see. Also, she would need to get divorced first, and would the agency really want to market a woman who they put in a failed marriage?”
“Is it not worth looking into?” Bonnie asked.
Thea and Jenny exchanged a look.
“I would certainly suggest it to her,” Jenny said.
Thea’s lashes fluttered. “Yes. I will do that. It has to be done at the right time, though, and in the right way.”
Jenny paused in pursing her lips only long enough to sip her coffee. “Let me know how that goes. If it comes down to it, I will make Chandler take her in.”
“Oh, I doubt she would stay,” Thea said, her brow folding.
Bonnie bit the inside of her cheek and looked at the bed, where Aria was still mesmerized by the illustrated book, and the wedding dress still lay splayed out. She almost felt guilty for being so lucky to have connected with Steven.
“Do you need any help with your dress?” Jenny asked, drawing Bonnie out of her thoughts.
Bonnie pressed her hand to her heart in gratitude. “Thank you, but I think I have it. All that’s needed is for the lace to be sewn on. I would add more frills if I had the resources, but I don’t.”
“A dress shop.” Thea grinned over her coffee cup. “Now that is what Whiteridge needs.”
“I worked in one,” Bonnie said.
“Then you could open one!” Thea touched Bonnie’s wrist in excitement.
“With a population of about ten women, I’m not sure I would be able to stay in business,” Bonnie said.
The three of them laughed, and Aria looked up from the book to giggle along just for the joy of it.
The rest of the visit passed in talk about the goings-on in town. The church would be getting window panes the next week. Jenny’s husband Chandler, at her insistence, had ordered subscriptions to a few magazines with stories.
The last part of information thrilled Bonnie the most. She’d been trying her hardest not to worry about the lack of books in Whiteridge, but hearing some short stories would be coming her way brought her an intense amount of relief.
The women left shortly, needing to get back to tending their own homes, and Bonnie stood in the doorway watching them go. Leaving the door open, as the rising sun had heated up the day, she drifted back to the bed and ran her fingers over the dress.
Marriage. It had come on so quickly. She hadn’t even heard of mail-order brides until six months ago when a customer at the shop had mentioned them. Eager to leave behind the bad memories and the hardship of being a working, single woman, Bonnie had only thought on the idea for a few days before submitting a letter to the mail-order bride agency.
And now here she was, about to marry a man who was better than any she’d met back in Baltimore.
If only every woman in the world could be as lucky as her.
10
10. Steve
Chapter ten
Every muscle ached from the day’s work, making even the descent on the mountain road arduous. Next to Steve, Neil lifted his face up to the sun and breathed in deep.
“It’s a coming,” Neil said. “Winter is on its way.”
“Tell it to take all the time it needs. I still have a dozen logs to chop.”
Ahead of them, a dozen or so miners walked in jagged lines, talking and laughing with each other. They were likely headed for the saloon, a favorite place of most miners in Whiteridge. It was also the only place in town to get a drink, as the hotel served no alcohol.
Steve hadn’t ever been a regular patron there. He didn’t much care for drinking. Or for wasting money. And Bonnie’s entrance into his life meant he now had something to go home to each day.
“I need to go to the store,” Neil announced. “Need anything?”
Steve thought about it. Bonnie was in charge of the shopping now, and she did a great job at it. He couldn’t rightly name anything he needed.
“I’ll come with you,” Steve decided. “Just for the trip into town.”
Neil chuckled, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. If you called Whiteridge a ‘town,’ it had to be done in the lightest sense. It only had five buildings: a general store, a church, a school, a saloon, and a hotel.
Still, that was better than things had been a year ago when there was nothing other than a general store and the saloon.
As the miners climbed the saloon’s steps, Neil and Steve went across the street into the general store, where Neil collected the essentials: sugar, flour, cornmeal, and coffee.
“Everything a bachelor needs,” Neil said as they left the store.
“Was that a joke or not?”
“It was a statement made by a conflicted soul.”
“Order yourself a bride.” Steve grinned. “It worked out well for me.”
“You, my friend, also can support a wife. I’m lucky if I have a dollar to my name.”
Steve nodded, under
standing. Neil’s parents lived in Illinois and were both in poor health. Neil regularly sent them money. It was something he and Steve talked about very little, but an act that Steve respected tremendously.
“You can’t talk to me that way,” a woman’s voice said.
Steve stopped walking and looked around. There were a few people in the street, but they were all men.
A muffled male voice said something back, and then a woman gasped. Steve looked left and found the source of the argument: two people standing behind the church. Russell and Margaret Hawkins.
Steve’s muscles tightened, his hands curling into fists. Russell Hawkins had advanced on his wife, placing his arms on the church’s outside wall, pinning her in one spot.
Next to Steve, Neil shifted nervously and put his bag down. “What’s going on over there?” he asked in a low voice.
“Don’t know, but it doesn’t look good” Steve muttered, not taking his eyes off the Hawkins’.
“...not something I care about… you don’t see…” Margaret’s words drifted in and out on the wind. Steve was only able to pick up tidbits of her sentences.
Suddenly, Russell closed his hand around Margaret’s throat. Shock rippled through Steve. Margaret clutched at Russell’s hand, desperately trying to pry him off of her.
Steve made quick progress across the grass. By the time he reached the side of the church, fury had blurred his vision. Grasping the back of Hawkins’ shirt, he hauled the man off of Margaret. Both the man and woman gasped in shock as Steve tossed Hawkins to the ground.
Margaret’s hands went to her throat in a protective gesture, and her eyes were wide with fear.
“What’s this about?” Hawkins grunted, climbing to his feet.
“You tell me,” Steve responded.
Hawkins’ face was growing red, and his hat lay forgotten on the ground. He took a couple steps toward Steve, puffing his chest out. When Steve didn’t so much as blink, he stopped advancing.
“You out of your dang mind?” Hawkins blustered. “Coming over here and looking to start a fight?”
Steve glanced at Margaret, who was sniffling softly and trying to avoid everyone’s gaze. Neil had come up to them at some point during the confrontation, and he now stood close to Steve’s side.
“I saw what you were doing, Hawkins,” Steve growled.
Hawkins face scrunched. “What nonsense are you talking ‘bout?”
“I saw you put your hand on her throat.” Steve was working to keep his voice low, but it was hard. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some interested miners watching from across the street. Steve didn’t care about shaming Hawkins, but he at least wanted to spare Margaret any additional embarrassment.
Hawkins scoffed and looked at Neil. “You need to take your friend on out of here before there’s real trouble.”
Steve took another step toward him, and at the same time Neil put his hand on Steve’s shoulder as Hawkins took a step back. The two opponents were about the same height and build, but there was an inherent difference between the two of them: Hawkins was a coward, just like anyone else who abused women. The man would likely slap a woman away all day long and then balk at the very thought of fighting another man.
“Are you all right, ma’am?” Steve asked, finally glancing Margaret’s way. He couldn’t stand to address her as ‘Mrs. Hawkins’. Not when no woman should be unfortunate enough to carry that man’s name.
“I am… yes. Thank you,” she answered hesitantly. Her eyes shifting to her husband’s.
Steve’s chest still heaved, and he couldn’t make his fists loosen. Walking away didn’t seem like a good idea. Hawkins would just take Margaret home, and what would happen then? He’d take his anger out on her, most likely.
Steve glanced over his shoulder and found Rosalie Hahn, the schoolteacher, hovering in the school’s open doorway. Class had let out hours ago, but she must have been there grading papers or something. Her husband was a good friend of Steve’s, and he knew the two of them would take Margaret in for the night if need be.
“Neil,” Steve said already making the decision, “Take the lady, please, over to the schoolhouse. She can go home with Mrs. Hahn for the night.” His gaze shifted back to Hawkins, who hadn’t moved an inch.
He expected Margaret to argue, so it was a surprise when she crossed the grass and walked for Rosalie herself.
“You get back here,” Hawkins snarled at her.
“We need some space, Russell,” Margaret responded, her voice trembling. “Just for tonight.”
Steve would make certain that the two of them were apart for more than one night, but he didn’t say anything about that now. Instead, he folded his arms and glared at Hawkins.
“You think you’re something, huh?” Hawkins jabbed a finger in Steve’s direction. “Coming over here and stealing my woman!”
“I have my own gal, Hawkins. But since you bring it up, any man who treats a lady the way you do doesn’t deserve their company.”
“You have no right!” Hawkins screamed, seemingly unaffected by the stares of Rosalie and the miners across the street.
“Stand down, Hawkins,” Steve quietly said. “Or you’ll regret it.”
“Oh, yeah?” Hawkins barked back. For a moment, his fear seemed to dissipate. He stepped forward, his jaw ticking and cords showing in his neck. “What are you going to do about it?”
Steve dropped his arms and closed the distance between him and Hawkins, so the two of them were only inches apart. The man was a good twenty years older than Steve, with a beard half gray. Steve wondered how many women he’d hurt in his time.
“Touch her ever again,” Steve said slowly, “and I’ll make you pay.”
The words had their intended effect. Hawkins’ short bout of bravado ended, and fear entered his eyes. He looked all around, taking in the small crowd watching from the street and his wife retreating into the schoolhouse.
“Make me pay,” he mumbled, spitting at the ground near Steve’s feet. “That’s what you think.”
Still muttering to himself, he turned and stalked across the grass and up the road. Steve stayed where he was, anger still coursing through his veins.
“You’ve started something now,” Neil commented.
“And I don’t regret it.”
“You shouldn’t.”
With the scene over, the miners went back into the hotel, and Neil collected his goods. As Steve walked to the schoolhouse, he caught a blur of movement inside.
“Come in,” Rosalie Hahn said after he knocked.
Steve took his hat off as he entered. Both women were sitting at student desks in the middle of the room. Margaret’s expression was flat, but her face was pale. Bruises were already starting to appear on her neck where Russell had grabbed her.
“I’m sorry you ladies had to be subjected to that,” Steve said.
Rosalie cleared her throat. “Margaret is coming to stay with me for a while.”
“That’s what I was hoping,” Steve said.
Margaret sighed. “I do not wish to be a burden.”
“The burden would be on us,” Rosalie said, “if we allowed you to return home this evening.”
“Exactly,” Steve agreed.
Margaret hesitated but eventually nodded. Steve could see she was shaken up, and now likely wasn’t the time to have a conversation about her future. For all he knew, she planned on returning to Hawkins the next day.
Steve sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case.
“I’ll stop by tomorrow,” Steve told them. “Ladies, have a good evening. If Hawkins comes over…”
“He won’t be welcome,” Rosalie answered, her chin lifting and shoulders drawing back. “You can rest assured of that.”
Steve glanced at Margaret, happy to find she wasn’t arguing.
“Have a good night then,” Steve said. He paused at the door. “Be careful. Really.”
“We will,” Rosalie promised.
Steve nodded. He was only part
ially satisfied, but he had to live with that. Hawkins was a bad egg. There would be no resting while he was around.
11
11. Bonnie
Chapter eleven
Bonnie sat on the edge of her seat as she listened to Steve relay the story.
Her Fearless Love_Seeing Ranch Mail Order Bride Page 6
