Mail Order Mistake

by Kirsten Osbourne

  Beatrice nodded all but bouncing up and down. “I’m worried, but at least there’s a doctor here in town.”

  “I’m so happy for you!”

  Ellen smiled. “I have news too.”

  Malinda looked at her sister. “You’re not!” It was one thing to have her friend be pregnant. She really couldn’t imagine Ellen having a baby.

  Ellen nodded happily. “The doctor confirmed it yesterday. That’s one of the reasons I invited you to walk with me today.”

  “Wow. I’m going to be an aunt!” Malinda hugged her sister.

  Beatrice laughed. “You’re already an aunt.”

  “Yes, but I wasn’t expecting Jonathan!”

  “Umm…I’m almost afraid to ask any questions.” Beatrice looked perplexed.

  Malinda laughed. “Patrick and Ellen adopted Jonathan from the orphanage here in town.”

  “Oh!” Beatrice smiled at Ellen. “Congratulations. It’s nice to know my son or daughter will have a friend.”

  Malinda watched her sister and her friend together thinking she should have introduced them sooner. Both of them were new to town. They should all be friends.

  “Why don’t we all go back to my house for some cookies? You two should get better acquainted.” Malinda was certain they’d like each other.

  Ellen shook her head. “I have to get home. I’m supposed to be at the orphanage in an hour and I need to eat lunch.”

  “I have to go home, too. The doctor wants me taking naps every afternoon, so I need to eat lunch so I can do that. Thank you, though.” She gave Malinda a quick hug and hurried off to her house.

  “I guess it’s you and me, Lady.”

  Ellen laughed. “You need to have the two of us over for tea and cookies soon. I think we’d both enjoy that.” Ellen waved as she walked off in the direction of her home, pushing Jonathan in his stroller.

  Malinda smiled, watching her go. She wondered if she’d be expecting soon, and then she remembered the fight she’d just had with Wesley. She didn’t need to bring a baby into a marriage with that much fighting going on. She and Wesley needed to settle things quickly.

  *****

  Wesley went to his office and slammed the door. How could she still be so worried about money? We’ve been married for months and not a penny of the money she’s made has disappeared from her jar. We don’t need that money. He kicked the chair in his office for good measure.

  He sat down behind his desk and looked at the paperwork in front of him, staring into the face of Jim Madden. Jim was wanted for murder in three states. The reward was the highest Wesley had ever seen. Five hundred dollars was a lot of money. Wesley tacked up the wanted poster on the wall of the jail as he did with all of them that came through. They were far enough from the railroad that he never saw any of them, but he studied all their faces just the same. He wasn’t sure why, other than it’s what a sheriff was supposed to do.

  He sighed and sank back into his chair. What was he going to do about his wife? How could he convince her that he’d take care of her no matter what?

  *****

  Malinda heated up the leftover fried chicken and mashed potatoes from dinner the previous evening. She wasn’t looking forward to the fight she knew was brewing between her and Wesley, but she knew they needed to talk things out. He hated that she felt the need to work, but didn’t mind if she did a little on the side, so surely they could come up with a compromise.

  She eyed the jar on her work table. She’d been working steadily for the three months she and Wesley had been married. She dumped the money out onto the table wondering just how much was there. She counted it quickly, dropping each coin back into her jar when she was finished. When she was finished, she sat down, stunned. She had fifty-three dollars saved! It wasn’t a fortune by any means, but it would pay the bills for a month or two if anything happened.

  She carried the jar into the spare bedroom and put it on the dresser there. By the time she was back in the kitchen, Wesley was home and looking around. She set the table and hurriedly put the food out, planning out what she was going to say to him in her mind.

  Once she was seated, she looked up at him. “I know you’re angry with me, and I’m very sorry. I’m going to stop taking in sewing. It’s only right that I trust you to provide for us.” Even as she said it, she knew she wasn’t being completely honest with him. She only trusted him to provide for them because she had money saved.

  Wesley looked at her for a moment. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

  She nodded. “I enjoy doing the sewing, but if you don’t like it, then I’ll stop.” She hoped he didn’t want her to stop because she did like making money and having some saved, but if he didn’t like it, she would stop immediately.

  He sighed. “I don’t want you to stop doing something you enjoy. I just think you’ve been working yourself too hard. One night you stayed up all night working.” When he saw the look on her face, he added, “You didn’t think I knew that, did you?”

  She shook her head. “I thought you’d slept through it.” She was abruptly ashamed she’d tried to hide the fact she’d worked all night from him. He was a reasonable man and understood deadlines.

  “I woke up and realized you were gone. When you never came back, I knew you must be working.” He looked down at his chicken. “I hate the idea of you working that hard. You’re my wife. I want to provide for you.”

  “So I’ll let people know I’m officially out of the sewing business.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, even though to her it mattered a great deal.

  He shook his head. “No, because I want you to do things you enjoy. Why don’t you just cut down on how much you do? I don’t have a problem if you make a dress or two a month.”

  She contemplated that for a minute. “Honestly, a dress a week isn’t overtaxing for me. Would that be okay?” She held her breath, waiting for his response. She didn’t want to do more than he thought she should, but she didn’t want to sit with nothing to do all the time, either.

  He nodded. “If you really don’t feel like it’s too much, then that’s fine. Just don’t do so much you have to get up and work all night anymore.”

  “I think that’s a fair compromise.” And a compromise she could be content with. She could still make extra money to save or spend however she wanted, but he wouldn’t feel like she was trying to out-earn him.

  “And if you don’t want to do it, that’s fine too. I just don’t want you to feel like we’re going to starve to death if you don’t work, because we won’t.”

  She sighed. “I know that. I just worry so much about something happening like what happened when my father died. I’ve never been so afraid in my life!” There was no way she could convey the panic she’d felt during that time.

  “I can understand that. I really can. But you need to understand that it wouldn’t happen to you. You have my brother and your sister to fall back on if anything happens to me.”

  “I know I do. Ellen even told me that before we married, but I don’t want to be a burden on them either.” She shrugged. “It’s just something I need to get over.” She took his hand in hers across the table. “I’m really sorry you heard me on the street this morning. I would never deliberately hurt you.”

  “I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry you felt that way to begin with.”

  She stood up and cleared the table while he watched. Lady followed her around, hoping she’d drop some food. After a moment, she scraped all the leftovers into Lady’s bowl for her to eat and started on the dishes. Wesley walked up behind her and wrapped both arms around her waist. “I’m going to miss you this afternoon.”

  She turned to him, laughing. “You will not. You never even think about me when you’re at work and you know it.” She smiled up at him, loving that he was returning to his old self now that things were finally settled between them.

  He laughed. “How can I not think about the beautiful woman waiting at home for me?”

 
She blushed. “I miss you when you’re at work, too.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his shoulder for a moment.

  He kissed her softly before turning to the door. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

  Malinda enjoyed her free time that afternoon. She didn’t feel the need to rush out and see if she could find some business, and she wasn’t working on anything for anyone. Elizabeth had said something about needing her to make a few dresses for her baby, but that wouldn’t be until the following week. She thought about what she and Wesley had talked about and decided she would stop taking business from the miners altogether. They were generally a cranky, smelly bunch who were difficult to work with anyway.

  She chopped up vegetables to make a thick stew which would taste wonderful on a cool fall evening.

  Wesley was usually home by five-thirty at the latest, but she didn’t start to worry until after six. At seven, she started pacing the floor in the parlor and calling him every name she could think of. “The no good louse left me here by myself just because we had a little fight today? What is his problem? I thought things were finally settled!” She tripped over Lady as she paced back toward the sofa. “Where could he be?”

  A knock at the door caught her attention mid-stride and she rushed to the front door, wondering who would be coming by at this hour? It was past seven-thirty, much too late for unexpected guests.

  She opened the door to find Patrick standing there wringing his hands. “You need to come with me, Malinda.”

  “Why?” She couldn’t leave when Wesley would be home any minute. She needed to be there for him.

  “Wesley’s been shot.”

  Chapter Ten

  Malinda felt as if she couldn’t breathe. “Shot? Are you sure?” He said his job wasn’t dangerous. How could he have been shot? Patrick must be wrong. Wouldn’t she know it if he’d been shot? Wouldn’t someone have come and told her right away?

  Patrick nodded grimly. “He’s with the doctor now.”

  Malinda grabbed her shawl and threw it over her shoulders before hurrying out of the door. “I don’t even know where the doctor’s office is!” She’d find it, though. If it killed her, she’d find it. She immediately turned to the left to start searching for the doctor’s house.

  Patrick took her arm and led her to his buggy. “I’ll take you there.” He helped her up and ran around to take his place behind the reins. With a flick of his wrist the horses took off down the quiet street.

  Malinda usually loved fall. The smell of fresh burning wood in the air combined with the leaves changing color always put her in a festive spirit, but she’d been so busy making money this fall, she hadn’t taken the time to enjoy the change of the seasons. She needed to slow down and enjoy her life. She’d been so busy through her entire marriage that she hadn’t really enjoyed her husband like she should have.

  “Do you know what happened?” Did it matter what happened? The man she loved had been shot and was lying wounded somewhere. “Is he going to be okay?”

  Patrick shook his head. “I don’t know anything. There was a shootout in front of the bank this evening, but I didn’t take the time away from my duties to go out and see what was happening. I already had to work late tonight, and I didn’t want to get home to Ellen and Jonathan any later than absolutely necessary. I was sure Wesley had everything under control. It wasn’t until twenty minutes later when I locked up the bank for the evening that I went out and someone told me Wesley had been involved. And hurt.”

  “Is he going to be okay?” Please God, let him be okay. She couldn’t live without him. She didn’t care about the money. He was all that mattered.

  Patrick shrugged. “I came and got you right away. I didn’t think you’d heard, and I needed to make sure you were there with him. You know everything I know.”

  Patrick stopped the horses in front of a small wooden house on the main street of town, not far from the bank. Malinda didn’t wait for Patrick to help her down, but instead jumped down herself and ran up to the house. Patrick was right behind her as she knocked on the door.

  Dr. Martin, whom Malinda had met at church, opened the door for them. He held it wide and pointed to the doctor’s bed behind him where Wesley was sitting up, his left arm in a sling, his shirt hanging off him in rags. Malinda flew to him, burying her face in his neck, sobbing softly. “I was so worried.”

  Wesley pressed his cheek against the top of her head before kissing her forehead. “I’m fine. You should see the other guy.”

  Malinda pulled back and stared up at him, her brown eyes still wide with worry. “What happened?” She didn’t want to know, but she had to know. They had to find a way to prevent it from happening again.

  Wesley sighed. “I was walking up and down the street, just like I do every evening. I always check the bank last thing in the afternoon because that’s where we’re most likely to have problems in a town this small.” He rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand as he talked. “I had just received a new wanted poster at the sheriff’s office, so I’d just looked at it earlier today. The man on the poster, Jim Madden, was there across the street, staring up at the bank and fingering his gun. I was pretty sure it was him, but just to make certain, I pulled my gun and called out, ‘Jim?’ No one can resist responding to their own name, right?

  “Well, he turned and pulled his weapon all in one move. He got off a shot and clipped my shoulder, but I dropped him. I made my way over to him and checked for a pulse, and he was dead. I was losing strength, so I just sat there on the boardwalk until someone came along and offered to drive me to the doc’s office. He got a friend to put Jim in the back, and we came here. Doc patched me up. Said the bullet didn’t hit anything important, and I just need to take it easy for a day or two.”

  The doctor cleared his throat and Malinda turned to look at him. “I said he needs to take it easy for six weeks. The bone in his shoulder is broken.”

  Malinda sighed. Being off work for that long would mean they would have to use most of the money she’d saved, but she was just glad he was okay. “I’ll make sure he takes it easy, Doctor. Does he need to stay in bed?” She was going to make Wesley follow the doctor’s instructions exactly. He was not going to not heal properly because he wouldn’t stay in bed.

  Dr. Martin shook his head. “Nothing quite that strict. After the first day or two, he can do whatever feels comfortable to him including slow walks. Nothing more stringent than that, though.”

  “I’ll see to it.” Malinda glared down at Wesley. “You are going to follow the doctor’s orders if it kills both of us.”

  Wesley groaned. “Are you sure I’m not so sick I need to stay here for the whole six weeks, Doc? She’s going to treat me like an invalid.”

  Dr. Martin laughed. “Go home and let your wife coddle you sheriff. That’s what wives do when you’ve been shot.”

  “You ever been shot, Doc?” Wesley asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Well, no I can’t say that I have.”

  “You ever been married, Doc?” Wesley asked again.

  “No, I haven’t had the privilege.”

  “Then I don’t think you need to be talking to me about what wives do when a man’s been shot, now do you?”

  Dr. Martin ignored Wesley and looked at Patrick. “Can you help her get him home and into bed?”

  Patrick nodded, rushing forward to put his shoulder under Wesley’s good arm. “I’m going to kill you for going to get her,” Wesley whispered to his brother.

  “How were you going to hide the fact that you’d been shot from your wife?”

  Wesley shrugged, and then grimaced in pain. “I hadn’t figured that out yet, but trust me, I’d have found a way.”

  Malinda stopped in front of the doctor and shook his hand. “Thank you so much for taking care of him. What do we owe you?” She’d give Patrick the money and send him back with it. There was no way she was going to leave Wesley when she finally had him home in bed where he belo
nged.

  The doctor shook his head. “He was hurt doing town business. There’s no charge for that.”

  Malinda’s eyes widened, but she didn’t complain. She was relieved none of her hard-earned money would have to go for Wesley’s wound. They’d need it all to get through until he could work again. “Thank you again, Doctor. I’ll make sure he rests. When do you need to see him back here?”

  “A couple weeks or so. Change the bandage every night and if it starts smelling bad or turns green, let me know.”

  Malinda nodded. “I will.” She rushed out the door behind the brothers seeing that Wesley was already settled in the front seat beside Patrick. Patrick helped her to the back and she settled in for the ride back to the house she shared with Wesley.

  When Patrick stopped the horses, she again jumped down before Patrick could help her and stood wringing her hands while Patrick helped Wesley down from the buggy. She wanted to help, but there was really nothing she could do without getting in the way.

  Patrick took him into their bedroom and helped him into bed. “Can you get him undressed, or do you need me to help with that?”

  Malinda shook her head. “I can handle it. Do you want something to eat before you go home?” She didn’t want to waste her time playing hostess with Patrick, but she couldn’t let him go home hungry.

  “No, Ellen doesn’t know what happened, so she’s probably pacing the floors waiting for me. Take care of my little brother.”

  Malinda nodded, rushing into the room with Wesley while Patrick let himself out. She helped him remove his pants, and cut what was left of his shirt off him. “Are you hungry?” She brushed a stray strand of hair back off his forehead, wishing she knew what to do to make him better.

  Wesley nodded, stroking his hand up and down her arm. “I am. You didn’t forget to cook dinner tonight, did you?”

  Malinda made a face and hurried into the kitchen where the stew was still on the stove staying warm. Malinda served two bowls of stew and two glasses of water and carried them into the bedroom on a tray. She climbed into bed beside her husband and shared his meal there on the bed. “I’m so thankful you’re okay.” She didn’t tell him about the heart stopping panic she’d felt while she’d waited to find out if he was all right.