Touch Me Boss: A Single Dad Office Romance

by Aria Ford

  Chapter 11

  Eli got dressed and headed out of The Tavern.

  “Nice suit,” Eileen said before he left.

  “Aww, thank you. I’m going to church.”

  Eileen looked at him. She thought he was joking.

  “You are really going to church?” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yes, why is that so hard to believe?” She remained quiet and watched him leave.

  He arrived at the church. It was a lot smaller than he thought it would be but he could feel something…different when he stepped in. The congregation was seated and the pastor was preaching a sermon that was clearly moving the attendees. He clearly was late. All eyes were on him.

  “Young man, why are you so late to service?” Jeanie looked at him. She was surprised that he was here. He immediately sat next to her. She squeezed his hand and then pointed to the right. There was another unfamiliar face present at church. The Brute was also there. He looked uncomfortable but truly listened to the sermon. The church was packed. The entire town had never seen such a storm before and perhaps they were all here to give thanks for being alive.

  “Does anyone want to come up to this alter and speak about how God has been influential in their lives?” said the pastor.

  Everyone was surprisingly quiet. Everyone’s hand was down with the exception of The Brute. The church was surprised. The Brute got up and began to speak.

  “I never thought that God would help a man like me. I have committed several sins. I have been a bad man. I don’t even think that I could deserve a chance to live. Then I did something I haven’t done in a very long time. I prayed. I was stuck in the middle of a storm and God sent someone to rescue me. I didn’t expect to see tomorrah,” He began to wipe his face with a handkerchief. “And here I am. Alive to tell the tale and I gotta tell you, I don’t know how I would have done it without Him and my hero, who happens to be at church as well,” he pointed to Eli who was suddenly put on the spot. He was invited to the front of the church. The entire church began to clap for him. Eli didn’t know what to do. He thanked the church and smiled.

  “I think I was just doing the right thing. I’m no hero, really. Just a man trying to do good in the world. Tryna atone for my sins. Before I came here, I was a broken man. I came from a corrupt town. Gamblers, thieves and corrupt leaders were everywhere. One day, I got tired and took justice into my own hands. It raised a lot of moral questions for me. A man shouldn’t have to do God’s duty, but is it wrong to let the world go down in sin? I waited for God to intervene in my life but He wasn’t ready until I moved here and I met Jeanie. She made me want to be a better man and I hope one day, I am.”

  The entire church applauded and then he went back and sat next to Jeanie. The pastor thanked them for their testimonies and used their sermons to talk about forgiveness.

  After church, Eli pulled Jeanie aside.

  “Jeanie, there is something I wanted to ask you. I am in love with you and I can’t imagine life without ya,”

  He got down on one knee, “Jeanie, would you marry me?”

  She smiled. “ Yes, Eli I will. I will marry you.”

  Some months later, they were married. It was a small ceremony in the church. Eli helped out with the farm and became the man he had promised Jeanie he would be. He went to church regularly and even got baptised. They were beginning to grow into a family. Jeanie was only a few weeks pregnant and Eli began to take over all of the tasks on the farm, but he didn’t mind. One evening, as the sun slowly began to sit, he sat next to Jeanie at home and looked through the window with her. He squeezed her hand and kissed Jeanie, “I’m glad that I get to share that with you for the rest of my life.”

  She nudged him, “You mean for the rest of our lives.” He rubbed her stomach and whispered ‘sorry’ to her stomach.

  “You see how God can even make endings into such beautiful beginnings?”

  “Yes Jeanie, I do.

  “You see how the sun sets over the horizon? It’s one of the most beautiful things. It makes life worth living.”

  “And so are you...” He replied looking directly at her, “And so are you.”

  THE END

  Mail Order Bride Book 7

  “I’m sick of eating grits.” Thomas whined as Marilynn spooned a healthy helping of hot grits onto his plate. Marilynn grit her teeth at hearing her mother’s disappointed sigh from behind her.

  Madison Porter, mother to Marilynn Porter, Thomas Porter, Fred Porter, and Georgie Porter, wanted to start in with apologies. Marilynn shot her a mother a look.

  “Thomas, if you want to eat something other than grits- I suggest you go work at the corner store like Mr. Alfred down the street offered, and if you don’t want to get off of your lazy ass, I suggest you eat these grits.”

  “Your language, Marilynn, good Lord.” Madison said.

  Marilynn spooned grits onto the plates belonging to the other two boys. ‘All they do is complain! Mama needs some real help and she feels bad enough we have to eat grits for almost every damn meal.’ She thought, slamming down a spoonful of grits so hard that some flecked onto Georgie’s face. He frowned, but Georgie was the youngest, and the wisest of the three boys. He had seen what whining or complaining got you since Papa Porter died, and all that got you was a big ole smack upside the head. He’d take a bit of hot grits on his face this morning.

  “Any luck finding more houses to clean, Mama?” Marilynn asked, fanning a napkin over her lap and sitting down at the table, squeezing into a spot her chair would allow room for.

  Madison sighed. “Nothing. I’m lucky enough Tammy Rogue took pity on me when Peter died, she’s giving us just enough to make ends meet.”

  Forks scraped along the plates and Georgie looked at his Mama with wide, innocent eyes. “I could get a job, Mama.”

  Marilynn slapped a hand on Georgie’s thigh. “Oh, don’t worry. If anybody needs to be working around here, it’s me. I’m 21, its about time I figure something out.”

  “Go work at the damn corner store then.” Thomas mumbled, while Georgie and Fred looked on in horror.

  “I would flick these hot grits all over you if it wasn’t a waste of good food.” Marilynn said, opting for the higher road.

  Madison nodded her thanks at Marilynn and pushed away from the table. “I need to get going.” She snatched the apron she used for cleaning off of the banister of the stairs adjacent to the kitchen.

  “Have a good day cleaning, Mama.” Fred said, and Madison winked at him on her way out. Marilynn sighed when the door slammed. Fourteen hours from now her mother would return, and she would be more tired than a dog that spent a hot afternoon trying to mount a horse. She lifted her eyes, and looked at all three of her brothers. The schoolhouse wouldn’t be open again until late August, and the July heat would drive the boys stir crazy.

  She waved a hand at all three of them. “Go on, go outside, get into trouble.” A smile hung at her lips, a smile that tried it’s hardest to stay on her lips, no matter who died, and how hard it was to scrape their pennies together to get a family sized portion of grits from the corner store.

  All three boys sprinted outside at their dismissal. Marilynn watched them through the round window, swatting at each other twigs, inventing new games.

  ‘Oh, they can be so creative. Especially when they’re not being a damn nuisance.’ She thought. She gathered all of the bowls and utensils, and put them in a bucket that she would waddle outside with to wash for supper. The boys would be ready to come back in by then, excited to refuel albeit with more grits.

  The floorboards creaked as she leant over the table to wipe it clean.

  ‘No parts of our house creaked when Papa was around.’ She thought, shifting positions so as not to disturb the piece of floorboard that threatened to give way to dirt. Peter Porter used to fix everything, while he wasn’t a prideful man at all and wouldn’t mind if a friend of his noticed that his house creaked and some things fell apart, he loved putting
things back together. Any house occupied by Peter Porter was the best house on the block. Marilynn’s gut churned when she thought of the day, two months after Peter’s untimely passing, when Madison walked out to the well and came to realize that it was broken. Marilynn had watched her mother holler, “Peter! Peter, baby! This well could use some fixing!” and when Peter didn’t come, and when Madison had realized what she cried out, she collapsed right there by the well. The neighbors saw, but Marilynn couldn’t have cared less. They could gossip all they wanted. She had the same best friend since she started walking, Ruby Astor, and Ruby stood by her throughout the whole ordeal.

  ‘Come to think of it- I haven’t seen Ruby in days.’ Ruby would usually drop by every other day, her long red braids would swing all about her face as she hurried into the house. Marilynn began to set a teapot on the stove to boil water for tea.

  ‘I’ll have to send one of the boys over to see what’s going on.’ Marilynn thought. She watched Fred run by the window, his auburn hair falling into his eyes, as he looked over his shoulder to check for Thomas.

  Marilynn’s eyes were drawn to Thomas, who was waving down the road. The kettle screamed and Marilynn rose from her spot by the window to pour herself a cup of tea. She heard a knock on the door and reached for a second tea cup.

  “Come in!” She called.

  “I’m coming in- where have you been Marilynn?” Ruby’s voice floated into the kitchen.

  “I could ask you the same, Ruby May. Are you hiding out from the Porter clan?”

  “Pssh. Never.” The chair creaked as Ruby took a seat in it.

  Marilynn turned around, and brandished the two cups of tea. Ruby nodded her approval and acceptance of a cup and Marilynn reclaimed her spot at the table.

  “Where have you been, girl?” Marilynn asked, fanning her hot chamomile.

  Ruby beamed, her big white teeth contrasted with her bright red hair made her look like a circus performer for a moment. “Searching for a husband.”

  Marilynn scoffed. “What do you want with one of those?”

  “Babies, Marilynn. And you should too, the good Lord didn’t give you them wide, beautiful hips to not pass nothing through them.”

  “You find me a man worth a dime bag of grits in the whole state of Mississippi, that’s wanting to take care of me, my Mama, and my brothers, and I will happily pass some babies through these hips.”

  Ruby sipped her tea. “Well, I may not be able to find you a man all on my own, but I can certainly tell you where to start looking.”

  “How about down the street? That last few men in Mississippi are stumbling around town, looking for jobs. Or,” she gestured outside to where her three brothers wrestled, “They have yet to hit puberty.”

  “Oh, stop. I’m serious, nowadays men that actually want wives are posting ads.”

  “Would you want to have babies with a man that needed the help of the local paper to find a wife?” Marilynn drawled.

  Ruby’s fingers fidgeted along the table top and Marilynn narrowed her cerulean eyes.

  “Ruby?

  “Hm, Mary?”

  “Did you write to one of those men and tell him you’d be his wife?”

  “Well, he’s nice. He’s making good money in California, and I aint ever been nowhere. I could live in California.”

  Marilynn whistled and Ruby glared at her in envy for being able to make one of those mannish sounds. “So, how do you know this man is nice? He could be a desperate wife beater.”

  Ruby shook her head, her braids spilled onto the table. “He aint. He’s nice, his name is Henry, he played baseball when he lived here in Mississippi.”

  Marilynn rolled her eyes and smacked her lips at the taste of her tea. She reached for the sugar shaker and said, “So, he likes slamming into things with bats, does he?”

  “You’re just worried.”

  “That’s true.”

  Ruby reached a hand across the table and patted Marilynn on one of her hands. “I will be fine, Mary.”

  “So this is official, then?” Marilynn asked, a dubious note to her voice.

  Ruby nodded. “It’s worth trying. I’m not getting any younger, and men are going to start to think me strange for being unmarried in my twenties.”

  “Men don’t think me strange.” Marilynn argued.

  “That’s because none of them see you. You’re always locked up in this little house, tittering away for your family. When are you going to start your own life?”

  “This is my life, Ruby. This is. I take care of the house while Mama works, she needs me.”

  “You ever asked her if she needed you?”

  “Just because you want to up and marry some stranger doesn’t mean I’m odd for not wanting the same. I want to know my family is doing well, especially since Papa isn’t around…” Marilynn trailed off, the worry spreading all over her features.

  “You’ve got to live some time.” Ruby sipped her tea, and then fixed a hard gaze onto Marilynn. “You’ll write me, won’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  “You won’t forget me over time? After I have my babies, and we buy a house?”

  “Not even when you have the picket fence too. I may as well forget to breath while I’m at it.”

  Ruby grinned and held up her tea cup. “You’ll have to give me some of this tea before I leave, I know that’s for sure.”

  “Damn it, Meyers!” William Smith, the shift leader, hollered at Gerald as he sifted through pile of coal. “I’m gonna need you to stay after quitting time to sort this shit. You hear?”

  Gerald nodded, perturbed that Allen and Earl wouldn’t be staying after, hacking into pieces of coal. Smith walked off, and Gerald fussed after the coal.

  ‘Maybe I should have been a cowboy. Or some kind of vigilante.’ He thought to himself, fingers dyed black with soot. Gerald wasn’t the sort of man to pretend to like his occupation. No, he hated the mines. It was only a monetary lust that drove him Georgia to California, hoping to get his hands on bricks of gold.

  His wages were fair, yes. He could afford a decent sized home by himself, two bedrooms, with nice neighbors. His neighbor, Tedd, had a real shapely wife from Mississippi and she made some nights a bit brighter. The nights that Gerald spent at his table with some bourbon were remarkably less depressing when he thought of a woman. He wouldn’t dishonor Tedd like that, though. Tedd was a good man, supporting three snot nosed children.

  It was hotter than a jalapeno’s breath that July. He had heard that other parts of the country were really simmering. But they didn’t spend their whole damn day in the mines.

  A piece of coal split into and Gerald straightened his back to get properly lined up. His body had never hurt more in his life, his pal, Joseph, always suggested he found a woman to help massage the kinks. Joseph was clever, and handsome. Gerald had no problem admitting that, as another handsome man he knew one when he saw one. However, Joseph was so clever that he went and ordered a wife. Or, at least he made it seem that easy.

  Gerald quickly checked the perimeter, searching for Smith. He took a seat on the ground when he couldn’t see him for miles.

  ‘How long would it take to put myself in the paper? Make it look real good, too. Maybe, single man with a good job seeks a wife? Someone to rub his back and other places after a day in the mines?’ He thought.

  “Jospeh! When is your wife coming?”

  A few paces away, a man with sandy blond hair turned around and waved at Gerald. He jogged over to him and sat down beside him, checking for Smith before he got really comfortable.

  “She just left Mississippi yesterday. Her train will be here tomorrow. Her name is Ruby.”

  “Did you get a look at her before you signed your life over to her?”

  Joseph cackled and slapped Gerald on the back. “I did. She’s awfully cute. She’s got long cherry red hair, it’s natural too. Sanders wrote to a girl in Georgia and she showed up with just about nothing on her body that really belonged to her. She
was a skinny one, too.”

  Gerald shook his head. “Shame.”

  “Mhm. But my Ruby wears her hair in these pretty braids, she sounds like a nice southern girl. It’s what I’m used to, you know.”

  “Well, give you ordered a bride I didn’t think you’d be that picky.”

  “Well, I’m gonna pay all of this money to get her here, and take good care of her while she’s taking care of the house, I want a top notch woman. And I do mean a woman. Not one of those scared little girls that just turned 16. You know the type, Gerald? The kind that jump when you touch ‘em?”

  Gerald nodded. “I know the type, Joseph.”

  Gerald spotted Smith coming back around. “Well, shit.” He jumped up and grabbed his axe and motioned to Joseph to do the same. Joseph picked up his axe and did his best to look busy.

  “We can talk about Ruby over drinks tonight.” Joseph invited.

  “I’ll take it.” Gerald replied. ‘I’m running out of single friends to drink with, that’s for sure. Everybody wants a wife all of a sudden.’

  Joseph slammed down his glass of rum. “I’m gonna miss this, Gerald. I’ll be going home to be with Ruby every night after this.”

  Gerald wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh, you’ll have time. I suppose I’m gonna have to take up a hobby.”

  “A hobby?” Joseph repeated. “When will you have time to take up a hobby?”

  Gerald finished his beer and signaled to the barkeeper for another one. “I suppose on nights like this,” he grinned, “maybe drinking will be my new hobby.”

  Ruby and I will be sure to invite you over, and then when you’ve got one waiting on you, we’ll have you both over.”

  “How much time do you spend thinking about this? No wonder your pile is never done.”

  “Well, if you do the kind of work that we do, daydreaming is the only thing keeping you from hanging yourself when you make it home. You ever try having dreams, Gerald?”

  Gerald nodded his thanks to the barkeeper and let the ice cold alcohol run down his throat. The bar bustled with noise, mostly noise from men who’s hands were also covered in soot. While people that didn’t work in the mines were certainly welcomed to come enjoy a cold one, regular civilians rarely did. Lawyers with clean suits and clean automobiles would not ease them self into a booth, take off their glasses from a hard day’s work, and order a beer. No, clean regular men drank wines, had never seen moonshine in their life, and the only exhausted muscles they had at the end of the day was their brain or pole.