It had been over three weeks since Ellie had arrived. During that time she had transformed. She had developed a smooth, glowing tan and her clear blue eyes sparkled with vitality. Instead of looking underweight she looked healthy, with curves of muscle showing up on her arms and legs. The sun shone on her firm legs as she picked up her skirts and stepped through the garden, humming happily as she planned that evening’s supper.
Jared was out on the ranch, and Grammy was tucked away in her room finishing off her painting of the pups. Ellie was alone out here at the side of the house. The prairies stretched out all around her as far as the eye could see. Ellie could scan the horizon in a circle and see no other sign of human life.
She had company though. Bessie, the mother of the pups, supervised her with a benevolent eye. Bessie was a kind and gentle dog who was happy to trust Grammy with her pups while she escorted Ellie during her working day.
Jared had gone hunting the day before with Eric and Fairy. He had trained the dogs to flush out prairie grouse, and they had come back with three of the mottled brown and cream stocky birds. Ellie was going to ask Grammy to show her how to pluck and prepare them that afternoon.
She planned to roast the birds with butter and spices and serve them with succulent barley grains and caramelized onion. Sliced over the top she would add pears which she would stew and glaze with vinegar, sugar and mustard. Alongside that there would be braised greens with buttered beetroot and roasted potatoes.
Ellie reached over to select the tenderest green leaves for their meal, plucking the juicy stems with a crack. She breathed in the sweet bitterness of the greens and the earthy coolness of the beets as she worked. She placed her finds one by one into an old trug basket Grammy had given her.
Ellie had gathered all the vegetables she needed for now. One last thing to do.
She looked for the newly blooming black-eyed Susan climbing up the beans rack and she reached over to pick the bold orange and brown flowers. They would look pretty in the green enameled pot she had discovered in one of the outbuildings.
Bessie woofed, loudly and repeatedly. That was unlike Bessie, who was usually a serene animal. Ellie straightened up and shielded her face with her hand as she squinted into the distance.
She couldn’t see anything at first. Then she saw a black vehicle moving along. It was a carriage and horses. A carriage was making its way toward the track that led to the house.
They were not due for any visitors that Ellie knew of. The only people who usually came along that track were Mr. Allen to pick up Grammy, or Michael and David to start work just after dawn. Ellie stood and watched the carriage draw closer.
As the carriage drove up to the house Ellie could see how elegant it was. Painted glossy black, it looked European in style. The windows were fully covered so it was impossible to see inside. It was led by two beautiful black horses with shiny newly brushed manes and tails. A coachman in uniform sat at the front of the carriage, driving the horses from an outside seat.
Bessie barked angrily, unhappy with this unexpected development.
“Shh! Shh, Bessie, stop it now!”
Bessie whined and set her face crossly. She would stop barking for now, but she had expressed her displeasure.
Two ladies stepped out of the carriage, helped down by their driver. Their dresses were refined and stylish, cut to the latest fashion Ellie used to see in Boston. They were made of silken fabric with bustles at the back and appeared to be whalebone-corseted. Extreme engineering had been employed to create such elegant womanly lines.
All of a sudden Ellie felt grimy and simple in her green and yellow cotton dress. Her fingers and face were grubby from the soil. She furtively wiped her hands on her dress behind her back, picked up her trug of produce, and walked toward them.
“Can I be of assistance, ladies …” Ellie felt unsure of herself, not knowing how to address such people.
Ellie felt as if her little world of natural beauty had been broken. An irrational thought, she knew, but just a moment ago she had been in a happy oasis. Now her stomach lurched at the sudden intrusion.
The ladies stood before her. The woman in front had black hair and a beaked, inquisitive face. She stared at Ellie, taking in her dress and manner. She held her dark eyes a little too wide open with tension, giving her an air of greediness. She saw the smears of dirt on Ellie’s dress and face and she sneered slightly, raising her upper lip just a fraction and tilting her head up.
“Announce us to the master of the house. My name is Harriet Margreen.” She turned to her companion, a striking woman with a perfectly balanced, strong and rounded figure. She stood a good eight inches taller and had thick shiny blonde hair as pale as a sun-bleached ear of corn. Harriet held out her arm. “Come along, Anne, let us go inside.”
Anne took Harriet’s proffered arm and the two ladies walked toward the house in a leisurely manner. Harriet gestured as she pointed out the features of the building to Anne in a proprietorial manner.
Ellie stood there watching them. Finally she turned to locate Jared. There he was, riding up to her with Eric and Fairy alongside him. He had evidently seen the carriage arriving from afar.
“Bit of a surprise, my cousin seems to have decided to visit. Thanks, Ellie, for greeting them. Come along in when you are ready, we will have dinner.”
Ellie watched Jared greet the women and walk in with them, the three of them disappearing into the house. Ellie gazed at the door for a minute. Then she pulled herself together and followed.
Chapter 24
“So long it has been, Jared, it’s been too long since we saw each other last.” Harriet was drinking a cup of tea with Anne at her side. Ellie and Grammy were preparing dinner.
“Sure enough, Cousin Harriet. What brings you here?”
“All in good time. I wanted you to meet my friend Anne, and to show her around your place. She grew up on a farm so she knows all about the running of a homestead. I told her about your vast land and buildings out here, and the animals, and Anne was most interested to meet you.”
Anne looked dumbstruck as she smiled at Jared. Her cheeks were a rosy pink against the pure milky white of her skin. Her pale blue eyes were a faultless almond shape under gently curved brows. Her blonde hair flowed into waves which she had carefully arranged on top of her head, allowing a few curls to fall around her face.
Anne was classically beautiful, the kind of woman you might find in a Botticelli painting. Mild and perfectly proportioned. A small cloud passed over her features, and for a moment she looked as if she were about to speak. Then the cloud passed and she continued to sip her tea without a word. Harriet addressed Jared again.
“I have been concerned about you, Jared, hidden away here all on your own. I don’t want you to be forgotten and all your good talents go to waste. I thought some company would be welcome for you. So I said to Anne, come along, we will see him today! And come along we did, to give you a wonderful surprise and some cultured company.”
Jared did not look overjoyed, but he spoke politely to his cousin. “I have Grammy of course, she is a great conversationalist and she keeps me in line. And I have not properly introduced Ellie here, she is helping us out with our housekeeping and doing a fine job too." Jared caught Ellie’s eye and gave her a knowing smile.
“Grammy, of course, well that goes without saying, dear Grammy.” Harriet simpered at Grammy, ignoring Ellie.
Grammy didn’t seem too much enamored of Harriet, and something approaching a “harrumph” came from the sink where she was rinsing beetroot.
Grammy took her time washing the beetroot and greens in preparation for evening supper while Harriet and Anne sipped at their tea.
When she had finished at the sink, Grammy assisted Ellie in putting together a cold midday dinner. There was bread with ham and cheese, cold mutton with mustard and apple sauce, and fruitcake for afterwards. Grammy brought the mutton to the table and Ellie followed up with the ham, bread, cheese and condiments.
> “Bring me more tea, Ellie.” Harriet bestowed a brief smile on Ellie before turning back to Jared.
Jared winked at Ellie. “That’s kind of you Ellie, though Harriet, you should know that our Ellie sits down with us to eat together. She keeps house for us, but she is not a servant.”
Ellie could feel her cheeks warming up. She hoped it did not show. She wished that Jared would not say such things, as it made her too much the center of attention. She got the tea for Harriet, served it, and sat down quietly at the table. All Ellie wished for was to be outside again, doing her work in the garden.
The dinner continued on, and Ellie kept quiet and tried not to pay the conversation any mind. She saw that the empty dishes needed clearing and she helped Grammy with the task. As usual, Ellie tried to take on the bulk of the work to save Grammy from getting up and down from the table too much.
Somehow Ellie twisted too quickly to take the dishes off the table. The sudden twist combined with the stress of the situation was too much for her. Out of nowhere, she felt as if her head had been knocked sideways and a dizzy spell hit her.
The dishes crashed to the ground and Ellie clutched the side of the table, steadying herself and managing not to fall over.
The visitors reacted with looks of horror on their faces and Anne cried out.
“Ellie, don’t worry love." Grammy smiled reassuringly.
Harriet drew herself up as if she had been subjected to something awful. “Of course, Jared, you will not have to worry about the hired help when you are married, as your wife will take over this kind of duty. There will be no need to have a housekeeper.”
Jared did not reply, and although he was a polite man his countenance looked thunderous. Grammy was stony faced.
“Well, no matter!” Harriet laughed, watching Ellie pick up the broken pieces. “These mistakes do happen when you are not used to the work.”
Harriet eyed Ellie’s brown arms and neck as Ellie valiantly mopped the floor dry again.
“Weren’t we just saying, Anne, about keeping one’s skin fair, and how important it is? It is imperative that we must stay away from the sun and the elements, so as to keep our skin pretty and white. Of course, Anne, your skin is the prettiest here, but you have an advantage over the rest of us to start with.”
“I always wear a slat bonnet in the sun to shield my face and I cover my hands too, you see." Anne spoke up at last, addressing Jared, then directed her pale blue eyes down demurely.
In the interests of courtesy Jared attempted to look impressed.
Harriet spoke again. “In truth, Jared, I regret we don’t have long to spend with you today. I am sure that from now on we must see much more of each other. Anne was greatly wishing to see around the outside of the house, to look at the outbuildings, the animals, and to spy at the boundaries of the land. Weren’t you, Anne, my dear? Grammy, might you take her out to show her? Then I am afraid we will have to get going.”
Grammy got up with a grim expression on her face.
“Come on, Anne, let’s get you going.”
As they left, Harriet waited for the front door to shut. Then she turned to Jared and grabbed his arm, pulling him closer to her. She completely ignored Ellie clearing up at the sink.
“Now I have you all to myself, Cousin Jared. Let me tell you the real reason why we came today.”
Harriet opened her beady eyes further and trained an intense glare on Jared, fixing him to the spot on his seat.
“Your dear poor Mother always wanted the best for you, as you know Cousin Jared. Even when you were a boy she would worry for your future and plan for it. Your Ma would confide in my Mother you know. My Mother has been telling me how your Ma wished for a prosperous marriage for you, to a suitable strong woman who can take care of you properly. That is what she wanted most of all, God rest her poor dear soul.”
Jared was studying his fruitcake as if it were the most interesting thing in the room. He scooped up the crumbs between his strong fingers and waited for her to continue.
“Of course, you wish to marry someday, Jared?”
“Yes I … I think would want a wife,” Jared admitted.
“That is why, my wonderful Jared, you cannot marry yourself off to just anyone. Your Mother wanted someone very special for you from a good family. My dear friend Anne, as you can see she is stunning, and she is highly capable and strong. She can bear you ten children if you wish,” at which Jared raised his eyebrows a fraction, “and her family is the richest in Oregon. Her father has people running his farm for him, and that is where Anne grew up. He made his money as a merchant, running general stores throughout the state. He wants to marry her off into a good family, and I have taken over the organization of it.”
“I don’t know what to say, Cousin Harriet. I had not thought in much detail.”
“Now is the moment, Jared, though I see you feel unsure. You take your time. But you must admit, she is truly a fair woman?”
“That she is.”
Ellie felt queasy. Did Harriet not notice she was here? She was right here, washing their dinner plates. She was being treated like a servant. Harriet spoke of the most personal things and treated Ellie as if she were invisible. Harriet mentioned the marriage as if it were a business deal.
Maybe that’s what most marriages were, a way to join family fortunes and increase social standing. Ellie sighed to herself quietly.
“Do not tell me your thoughts now, Jared, but think on it. I can tell you that Anne is most interested in you and very keen to marry. I can vouch for her character of course. A sweeter woman you could not find.”
Ellie thought of Anne, of her beauty and the way her height and impressive dress threw everything else around her into poor relief. By comparison Ellie felt dull and small, and incompetent to boot. Why could she not stop breaking things? The feeling of being despised as a nothing came back to her, from those long years with Ursula.
Ellie looked out of the window as she scrubbed the dishes in the sink. A large gray cloud was coming in from the west, marring the perfect blue sky.
Anne and Grammy appeared around the corner of a building, Anne’s cream and pink satin dress rippling and crinkling in the wind as her blonde hair shone. Anne towered over Grammy and angled her head down, smiling graciously. She appeared to be making every effort to charm the old lady.
Ellie lowered her eyes so they would not see her watching them. Maybe this had happened to put her in her place. Stop her wanting so much.
Chapter 25
The following morning Jared had awoken in a bad mood. He had put Harriet off the day before, having been polite to his cousin without committing himself to anything. Anne had come back in with Grammy and had found her voice. She had used it to rave about the size of the land, how large the house was, and how pretty things were.
Jared had been impatient to see them go. He had waved the pair goodbye, stomped out of the house, got on his horse Jessie, and rode off to be alone for the rest of the day. Out there on the prairie, with the winds on his face and his dogs beside him, he felt free again.
When he had heard Harriet’s plans for him it had been a shock. He had struggled with a feeling of being constricted and controlled. He had fought an overwhelming urge to get out of the room.
Still, he knew that for all her faults, Harriet was not a bad person and surely meant the best for him. It was just that her intense dark eyes trapped him. He felt like a hunted lizard, quivering as the prairie falcon zoomed in for the kill.
Harriet had certainly calculated on Anne as an ideal wife for him. A fine looking lass, Jared had to admit. Blonde and buxom. Big round hips, tall and strong. Of good family and character. And Harriet had said his Ma had wanted a woman of good standing for him.
Had his Ma really said that? It was the first Jared had heard of his Ma’s wishes. He wanted to do right by his Ma. If a good marriage was her wish for him, then he ought to consider this proposal.
But if this woman was so ideal, why did the situa
tion irritate him so?
Jared grinned wryly to himself as he rode along. Maybe he wasn’t the hot red-blooded beast he thought he was. Yes, she was comely, but maybe he needed to get to know a woman before letting her hogtie and brand him for life. Perhaps once he spent more time with the woman it would feel more natural.
Jared shook his head as if to free himself from his thoughts.
He had been feeling strangely light in the past few weeks. Things had felt effortless as if everything had slotted into place. That sad feeling he had experienced in front of the fire the night before Ellie came was dissipating away.
Without warning, his inner sadness was becoming more distant. For the first time in a long time, he was feeling genuinely happy. Something real was growing in his heart, some kind of strength, something deep and true.
Just as the seasons change, something within him had shifted. It had happened naturally, as if it had been patiently waiting for him all along. As if it were meant to be. Just waiting for the right time to blossom.
He had been feeling high on these new emotions, flying through the days like a kite on the wind.
With the two ladies in the house to help, his daily life had become a source of simple happiness. Genuine laughter and joy bubbled up naturally from within him. He didn’t have to put on a good face for the world any more, as he had done for years after he had lost his parents. The happiness came naturally now.
He loved waking up in the morning and getting himself downstairs as fast as he could so he’d have more time to joke at Ellie. He didn’t mind admitting he felt more alive just having her around the place. He looked forward to seeing her face at the dawn of each day.
She looked healthier now. She had looked so pale and stick-like when he had first seen her at the station, he had been worried she might break.
Grammy, as always, had been right of course. Ellie had rounded out with some good meals, rest, fresh air and proper sleep. The life out here had put a sparkle in her eye and a dimple on her cheek, and it suited her.
Mail Order Love (Sweet Mail Order Bride Historical Romance Novel) (Oregon Mail Order Brides) Page 9
