Sadie’s face heated. She must be as red as the flowers on Annabell’s dress. “I tripped, nothing more.”
The other girls shot daggers out of their eyes. Sadie took a step back. These were her friends. Now, because of a simple idea on a way to increase her pa’s business, they were turning on her like badgers fighting over a dead rabbit. Only, she didn’t want their old dead rabbit. With a swish of her skirt, Sadie marched into the newspaper office.
She collapsed at her desk and buried her face in her hands. “What am I going to do?”
“You’re going to win this thing,” Ma said. “And I’m going to help you.”
“That would be cheating.” Sadie raised burning eyes to her gloating mother.
“Nonsense. The only competitor that might know a skillet from a bedpan is Ruby. I guarantee the other empty-headed girls will have their mothers helping them.” Ma shook the paper on which Sadie had written the list of contests. “We need to find you a new dress, and fast. The calicos you wear won’t score any points. I’m heading to the mercantile right now.”
Sadie thought fast. “I’m sure Lucy will find her dress there.”
“True. Since her family owns the place, she’ll have her pick of gowns.” Ma clapped. “I have just the thing. Come with me.” She grabbed Sadie’s hand and yanked her from her chair. “We have some alterations to do.”
She dragged Sadie home and into her bedroom. Releasing her hand, Ma commanded Sadie to disrobe. “This will be perfect with some modernization.” She pulled a dress from the wardrobe.
“But that was your wedding dress.” Sadie reached out and ran her hand over silk the color of spring grass.
“I know it’s a bit out of date, but with some minor changes, it will be perfect.” Ma hugged the dress. “And I’ll get busy on a wedding dress for you at once.”
“There is no guarantee I’ll win.” Of course she wouldn’t win. She’d never thought seriously about marriage, not since Zeke left and didn’t uphold his promise to write.
“Oh, you’ll win.”
Sadie sighed and let her dress fall in a puddle around her feet. Ma slipped the dress over her head then turned Sadie to look in the mirror.
The color brought out the green in Sadie’s eyes and complemented her dark hair. Perhaps Ma was right and Sadie had a chance with the first competition. Wonderful.
“Take this.” Ma thrust a thick book into Sadie’s hands.
“What’s this for?”
“Put it on your head. You need to practice posture.” Ma grabbed her pincushion off a bedside table. “Balance it while I pin the dress, and while you walk around the house. We don’t have a lot of time to turn you into a lady. Your normal gait is like a long-legged colt trying to win a race.”
Sadie opened her mouth to speak then closed it. Just because she enjoyed riding and fishing didn’t mean she wasn’t a lady. She wouldn’t give up the things she enjoyed for any man. She was no longer the girl Zeke remembered. She was a strong-willed woman with plans for her future. It was best that Zeke find a wife better suited to tea parties and social gatherings than simple Sadie. She took a deep shuddering breath. A true friend would step aside and let him find happiness with someone else.
“A doctor’s wife will have to meet certain criteria,” Ma said around the pins in her mouth. “We’ll have you ready in no time. You’re a smart girl. That’s one thing you have over and above your competitors. You’re comely, too, but that Annabell has a peaches-and-cream complexion. Something you could have if you would wear a hat once in a while.”
“Don’t be mean, Ma.” Sadie shook her head at her reflection. All Ma would accomplish was the equivalent of putting a silk dress on a mule. Still… she needed a way to ruin the beauty of the dress without ruining the dress.
Zeke chuckled all the way to the diner, thinking about how Sadie had sabotaged herself. Since delivering the baby had taken all day, then the drawing right after, he hadn’t had a chance to grab dinner. He’d make it to the diner a few minutes before they closed.
A bell jingled over the door as he walked in. The room was full. Every head turned to stare and all conversation hushed. Then applause broke out. Zeke froze like a mouse facing a cat.
“You’re a good sport, Doc,” Mr. Larson said. “I’ve been trying to marry off my Annabell for months now. Sixteen is the downward slide toward being an old maid, you know. She’s just hit the mark. Her seventeenth birthday is only a few months away.”
“Great idea,” Mr. Hoffman added. “What a way to liven things up.”
“Dinner is on the house.” Mrs. Newman ushered him to a table. “Pot roast, your favorite. Sally, get your future husband a plate.”
Zeke decided right then and there to take any future meals to go. At least until the silly contest was over. He noticed that the only folks who spoke to him were the ones who had daughters in the competition.
He ate the food placed in front of him without tasting it and tossed his money on the table. Accepting a free meal could be construed as a bribe. Since Sadie had locked him into her ridiculous idea, he would perform his duty with integrity.
Not ready to close his eyes and relive the last few hours, Zeke headed for a path he often took for his evening stroll. A path that led him past the creek he used to fish in with Sadie years ago.
Why did he torture himself by strolling there of an evening? Why hold her to a promise she’d made so many years ago?
He’d stopped writing but had thought his last letter explained how busy he was with finals and apprenticing with a doctor known throughout the country for his skill. His steps faltered. What if Sadie had never received that letter? It wasn’t unheard of for mail to be lost. If she never received it, then she would have thought he’d simply lost interest. He needed to speak with her at once. But… what if the letters weren’t the reason she no longer wanted to marry him? What if she’d changed her mind over the years? Now that she had a career, she could have decided she didn’t want to be married. He’d have to find a way to change her mind.
He turned and headed for her house. He approached the back door, as he had so many times when they were children, and knocked.
“Why, Doctor Phelps.” Mrs. Rollins grasped the collar of her robe. “What brings you out so late?”
“I’d like to speak to Sadie, if you don’t mind. We won’t leave the light of the kitchen window.”
“Oh, I trust you. Sadie!” She looked as if she would burst.
It probably wasn’t a good idea for Zeke to have come, especially with the day’s happenings, but he simply needed to know whether Sadie had received his last letter.
“Zeke?” Sadie pushed open the door, her thick hair falling around her shoulders and catching the moon’s light. Strands of silver threaded through her dark tresses.
“I’m sorry to come by at such a late hour, but I need to ask you something.” He held out his hand, hoping, praying, she would take it.
She slipped her small hand in his and allowed him to lead her a few feet from the house. “What is it?” Her eyes glittered.
“What was the last letter you received from me while I was away?” He took her other hand, keeping their gazes locked.
“Zeke, if someone sees us, they’ll accuse me of cheating.” She tried to pull away.
He held fast. “I need to know whether you got the letter saying why I wouldn’t be writing and that I would see you upon my return.”
She shook her head. “No, I received no such letter. Why does it matter? Zeke, that promise was between two silly children. I never intended to hold you to it.”
He dropped her hands and stepped back as if she’d shot him in the heart. “Then why are you going through with this silly contest? Perhaps God encouraged your mother to put your name in that box. This could be part of His plan.”
“We don’t know each other anymore.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “What if you don’t like the adult Sadie?”
That could never happen. He knew he still loved he
r the moment he saw her walking down the sidewalk on his first day home. He no longer loved her as a boy loves his sweetheart, but as a man loves a woman. During all the years away he dreamed of coming home to her; looked forward to declaring himself. Instead, now he had to win her hand, and her heart, through a silly competition. What if the wrong girl won?
“I have to go in,” she said. She raised her hand toward his face then turned and dashed back into the house.
He watched her go as far-off thunder warned of an approaching storm. It wouldn’t do for the town doctor to be caught in the rain and catch a chill. With his hands deep in his pockets and his head hanging, he headed for home.
The silence of the tiny room above the doctor’s office seemed to scream and ridicule him for his loneliness. No matter. In a few short days, he’d be standing in front of the parson getting married to Sadie. One way or the other, he’d make sure he chose her in the end.
The contest results might be private until the paper came out, but he knew her well enough to know when she had a hand in something.
Look out, Sadie Rollins, you’re getting ready to have a name change.
Chapter 3
Oh, Ma, I look ridiculous.” Sadie patted the pile of curls on top of her head. Ma had turned the dress into a work of art, but the woman in the mirror wasn’t Sadie. “We shouldn’t be doing this on a Sunday afternoon. It isn’t right.”
“Nonsense. You’re beautiful, and your father already printed a special edition of the paper. We can’t waste resources. You will present yourself along with the rest of the girls.” Ma clasped her hands under her chin. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Zeke won’t be able to take his eyes off you.”
Sadie glanced at the cursed newspaper on the table. What a foolish idea she had had. A contest to marry off the town’s most eligible bachelor? Silliest idea she’d ever had, really, and it had come back to bite her in the backside.
“Stop frowning. You’ll create lines in your face.” Ma stabbed one more hairpin into Sadie’s scalp.
“Ow!” Sadie reached for the pin.
“Beauty is painful. Don’t you dare take out that pin.” Ma stepped back. “You’re as ready as you’ll ever be. Remember… head up, shoulders back, a demure smile on your face.” Ma handed her a parasol. “Twirl this.”
“It’s cloudy outside.”
“Twirling it will bring attention to you. Like this.” Ma opened the parasol, leaned it on her shoulder, and twirled with the speed of a snail. “Not too fast. You don’t want to poke anyone’s eye out.”
Sadie sighed and took the parasol, dragging it behind her as she exited the house. She might as well be headed for the gallows.
“Pick it up!” Ma admonished and stepped beside her onto the porch. “Wonderful. The other girls are already congregating in front of the doctor’s office. We’re making an entrance.”
Sadie rolled her eyes and twirled the parasol. Hmmm. An entrance. If it was an entrance her mother wanted… She loosened her grip on the parasol and a gust of wind blew it from her hands. She dashed after it, heedless of the resulting damage to her hairstyle, dress, and dignity, grabbing it as it came to rest in front of the hitching post outside Zeke’s office.
He grinned down at her. “Good morning, Sadie.”
“Doctor.” She propped the tattered parasol on her shoulder as if it were a rifle, and took a deep breath. “What would you have us ladies do now that we’re here?”
“Why are you here?” His mouth twitched.
“The morning paper said our current task is to parade in front of you in our finery. So, parade I will.” As a soldier marching to war, she paced back and forth while the other contestants preened and struck poses behind her.
Sadie stepped off the sidewalk, crossed the muddy street, then walked up the other sidewalk and back, making a wide circle of Main Street. She stopped in front of him once again and squared her shoulders. “Satisfied?”
“Very.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the building. “It isn’t every day a man gets to see such a sight. I’m very blessed indeed.”
“You’re enjoying this.” Sadie tossed the ruined parasol on the ground at his feet. “Are we finished?”
“Shouldn’t there be a bit more, considering all the trouble you ladies took to look so beautiful?” His eyes twinkled. “How am I supposed to award points when everyone looks so nice?”
She wanted to punch him. “There are no points today. It’s only for you to get a good look at your choices.” Not Pa’s best idea, in her opinion.
Zeke swept his gaze across the line of girls. “I’m glad. There is no way I could have awarded points to one beauty over another.” He winked at Sadie. “I gather I am only to take a look at the bevy of beauties vying for my hand?”
Sadie gave him a curt nod. “You need to write a statement for the paper.”
“Very well. I’ll get started on that right away. Ladies, until tomorrow.” He spun and ducked through the door of his office.
Ma grabbed Sadie’s arm. “I’ve never been more mortified in my entire life. What did you mean by galloping down the street after that parasol? You should have let Zeke fetch it and return it to you. Then, the march through the mud? May heaven help us all.”
“I suppose I’m not meant to be a proper lady.” Sadie marched toward home, anxious to don one of her comfortable calico dresses.
“Anyone can be taught proper behavior. I’ve failed you miserably.”
Sadie turned. “No, Ma, I’m sorry. I’ve ruined your wedding dress and embarrassed you.” She blinked back tears. “Please forgive me, but I wish you had never put my name in that box.”
“The dress will wash. Don’t you want a husband and family?” Ma cupped her cheek. “The love of a good man is one of life’s greatest rewards. You’ve turned down the few men that have come courting.”
“Not everyone is meant to have that life.” Sadie clomped up the porch steps and into the house, leaving her shoes at the door and undoing her buttons as she went. Tomorrow was the baking competition. Good thing. The only thing she knew how to make was oatmeal.
“I’m making my famous carrot cake for tomorrow,” Ma called down the hall.
Not that! “No, make something no one has ever tasted.” Ma’s famous carrot cake would give Sadie an unfair advantage over the other girls, one that Zeke would seize upon to hold her to her promise.
Once free of Ma’s gown, Sadie plopped across her bed and stared at the wood beams across the ceiling. She could very well win the competition and wind up marrying Zeke.
She groaned and got dressed. She’d better go see about that cake.
The moment she stepped into the kitchen, Ma tried to shoo her out. “This is foreign territory to you, daughter. I won’t have you messing up my plans.”
“I have to help. It won’t be fair otherwise. You win the baking competition at the town fair every year.” Sadie grabbed an apron from a peg on the wall and tied it around her waist. “I can do this. I’ve had a very good teacher. What would you like me to do?”
“Leave, but since you’ve refused to do so, crack those eggs into the bowl.”
Sadie smashed an egg against the bowl. Shells rained down on the yolk. She sighed and started to pick out the pieces…. Wait. She grinned. She was sure to lose if she kept the shells in, and… a magic ingredient. She dumped in a handful of salt. There!
Zeke finished binding a broken finger and turned to the next patient. Annabell beamed down at him. “What ails you?”
As if remembering she was in a doctor’s office, she clutched her stomach. “The stress of the competition has my stomach upset. Perhaps you can ease my suffering?”
He almost told her that if it was too tough for her to compete, she could always drop out, then he remembered Sadie’s silly rule. Who in their right mind expected Zeke to marry Annabell? She was little more than a child.
“I have some syrup that might help.” He moved to his cupboard and studied the medicines. He doubted she was
actually ill. She needed something that wouldn’t harm her, but make her feel as if he were helping.
By the time he turned around, the other contestants, minus Sadie and Ruby, were crowding through the door. “Does everyone have an upset stomach?”
They all nodded.
He poured small vials of peppermint oil and handed one to each of them. “A few drops rubbed on your stomach should have you as right as rain.”
He waved away their gushes of thanks and practically forced them from the office. He could strangle Sadie. No more relaxing meals at the diner, and now false ailments bringing girls into his office. Life had taken a drastic turn, one he prayed would soon right itself.
When no more patients showed during the next hour, Zeke posted a sign saying where he could be found, locked the door, and grabbed his fishing pole. He needed an afternoon where he wasn’t surrounded by starry-eyed young ladies.
The walk through the trees soothed his frazzled nerves. The babbling of the creek greeted him before he parted low-hanging branches and stepped onto the bank. The sun sprinkled diamonds across the water. He froze, his mouth dropping.
Sadie, her skirt tucked into her waistband, stood knee-deep in the creek, casting her line expertly across the rippling surface. Zeke set his pole on a rock and watched as, with one flick of her wrist, she sent the line flying then jerked it back and repeated the motion. She’d always been a thing of wonder to watch while fishing.
His boot scraped the ground, loosening pebbles. Sadie shrieked and lost her footing. Arms flailing, she fell backward, landing up to her chin in the creek. Zeke laughed and rushed forward to help.
“Ha!” She grabbed his offered hand and pulled him in with her. “That will teach you to sneak up on a girl.”
He submerged and came up sputtering. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I only came to fish.”
“Find your own fishing hole.” She splashed her way to the bank.
“But we’ve always come here.” He followed, shaking water from his hair. “It’s big enough to share. Can’t we still fish as friends?”
The Most Eligible Bachelor Romance Collection: Nine Historical Romances Celebrate Marrying for All the Right Reasons Page 15
