“Three dollars!”
“Four dollars!” Gordon shouted, but he was starting to panic. How much money could he spare to keep Mooney from spending the evening with Avalee?
“If you need to borrow some money, I’ll gladly loan it to you,” Tobin told Gordon from the other side of their table.
“Oh, yes. This is a valuable box,” Angus said as he turned it one way, and then another. “I smell fried chicken!”
“Wait! Don’t bid again! That’s not Avalee’s box!” Wesley hissed as he grabbed Gordon’s arm to keep it down.
“Five dollars from a man who will pay a lot of money for fried chicken!” Mooney laughed and turned toward Gordon, expecting him to bid again.
“What? Are you sure?” Gordon looked at Wesley, then tried to study the box in Angus’ extended hands.
“Yep! I saw the ‘E’ mark on the side of the box, not ‘A.’ I saw the girls mark their boxes this afternoon.”
“Going once,” Mack called out.
Gordon stared at the box, trying to be positive it wasn’t an “A” on the box.
“Going twice,” Mack drew out, waiting for Gordon to bid again.
Who would “E” stand for? Avalee, Nadine, and Daphne all ended with an “E.”
“Six dollars!” Gordon called out in a panic while searching the Paulson table to figure out whose box it was.
“Seven!” Mooney yelled as he moved toward the table, assuming he was going to collect Avalee’s prize box.
Gordon snapped his head back to Mack and shook his head, meaning that he wasn’t going to bid again.
“Okay. Going once, twice, sold to Mr. Mooney, an often visitor at the Paulson Hotel! Thank you for your generous contribution to our school fund!” Mack’s voice boomed with a hint of mischief.
“Mrs. Edna Clancy, you did it again!” Angus called out. “Your fried chicken dinner is the top winner so far this evening.
“Mr. Mooney, please take your box and enjoy your evening with Mrs. Clancy. She’s cooked thousands of chickens in her dozens of years at the town café.”
Mooney stood stunned as Helen helped the elderly, Mrs. Clancy stand up from her chair.
“Get moving, boy! Grab the box, and then my arm. We need to sit down to eat our meal,” Mrs. Clancy commanded Mooney.
Gordon slumped back into his chair. He never would have guessed “E” stood for Edna until Cecilia pointed out to him that the older lady was sitting with them. Gordon owed Cecilia a big bag of candy for her help.
“The rest of the boxes should be marked with the first letter for Helen, Avalee, Nadine, and Daphne,” Wesley advised him.
I’ll bid on Avalee’s. Are you going to offer on one, since the Paulson’s are your employer?”
“Yeah. I’m going to buy Nadine’s box, just to see her throw a fit. I like teasing her,” Wesley admitted.
Gordon had noticed that Wesley went out of his way to actually get Nadine to see him. Maybe his friend was sweet on Nadine but didn’t want to admit it. In the meantime, Nadine did her best to snub Wesley any chance she could get, even though they worked together.
“Okay, now that our dear Edna has sat down, we’ll auction off the next box!” Mack called out.
Gordon studied the box until he noticed an “H” on the side. He needed to sit closer to the stage the next time he was at a box supper. If it wasn’t for Wesley’s eagle eyes, he would have spent way too much money—or Tobin’s money—on a meal.
Ethan spent four dollars on Helen’s meal because Kiowa Jones bid against him for a while just to raise the price for the fund. One of the Wilerson boys bought Daphne’s box, and Wesley procured Nadine’s, much to her astonishment.
“Here’s the last white box,” Mack pointed to the container with the large “A” marked on the side of it. “We can almost guess whose it is unless we have another surprise cook in the Paulson kitchen. Who will start the bid?”
Gordon waited to see if anyone else would raise their hand first.
“If you don’t start bidding, I’m going to bid on it for Mr. Boyle,” Tobin hissed.
“One dollar!” Gordon called out to show he meant to buy this box.
And luckily, he was the winner of the box and Avalee’s company for the evening. Not only was the fried chicken and raisin cream pie excellent, but the conversation was also even better. Gordon felt at ease with Avalee and hated for the evening to end.
***
“Interesting outcome on some of the buyers for the suppers tonight,” Lorna Elison brought up to Helen as they helped the hotel staff clear up after the event.
“I must say I enjoyed watching Nadine’s face when Wesley bought her box supper. It was so comical to see them together. It’s going to take time, but I think they will be a good match, once they admit it,” Helen replied as she piled china coffee cups on a wooden tray.
“And apparently the trunk salesman is vying for Avalee?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure I like that. I’d rather she court Gordon Miller instead,” Helen mused.
“But by wanting to spend time with Avalee, Mooney spent a large sum of money to eat supper with Edna Clancy instead,” Lorna snickered.
“Mack knew it was Edna’s box and played Mooney right into his trap since he was bidding against Gordon.”
“Made a nice contribution to the school fund.”
“Yes, it did,” Helen agreed. “Mack knows how to work the crowd to make the most money and for everyone to have a good time while doing it.”
“Is the ‘Peashooter’s Plan’ group still meeting for meals in the evenings?” Lorna heard they’d been to the barbershop apartment for a meal prepared by Tobin, who she’d heard was an excellent cook. And they’d driven out to the Cross C Ranch to see where the Brenner sisters grew up.
“Sometimes. Barton and Amelia spend time by themselves now. Tobin, and his kittens visit the Brenner girls often since they have two kittens from the same batch. I think Tobin is sweet on Molly.”
“Can you imagine how it would have been for us, as mail-order brides, to have time to meet and get to know our future husbands before the wedding?” Lorna reminisced about their past.
“Well, we both come to town to marry the same man, which was a fiasco, but we did have time to get to know your Lyle and my Ethan before we married them.”
Lorna thought back to those first months when she lived above the Clancy Café and worked for the elder Clancy’s. Her husband disappeared after their wedding night—with all her money—but left her with child. Lyle Elison had just moved in next door to the café to open his lawyer’s office and helped Lorna in so many ways as she dealt with desperation and morning sickness.
When Helen came to town as a mail-order bride, it turned out her “husband” was the same louse who married Lorna months earlier. Ethan Paulson hired Helen to help in his hotel and to give her, and her young daughters, a place to stay. Twenty years later, Helen and Ethan’s marriage was just as strong as hers and Lyle’s.
“I hope we see several happy marriages after the young people have had time to get to know each other. Do you think I need to talk to Avalee or Gordon or leave them to their own devices, Helen?” Lorna asked since she was their sponsor, but Helen was Avalee’s mother.
“Hmm. Right now, I’d say just watch. So much depends on what the Taylors decide to do with their store. Gordon won’t make a commitment until he has a permanent job and home. That’s just the way he is, and I commend him for being responsible.”
Chapter 12
"How did you know that Gabe was the right man to marry?" Avalee asked her sister, Iva Mae.
Avalee had stopped after work to visit her sister and play with her two nephews. At ages four and two, they were active and a handful. Iva Mae always appreciated her stopping by because the novelty of playing with one of their aunts gave Iva Mae a break.
Iva Mae sat down on the settee while Avalee got down on the floor to be with the boys and their toys.
"In my case, I'd known for years
he was the man I wanted to marry. I taught school for six years, patiently waiting until Gabe was ready to propose."
"But then, you took matters into your own hands," Avalee reminded her.
"Yes, at the '86 New Year’s Eve party I decided I was going to marry that next year, even if it wasn't to Gabe. My letters to a matrimonial agency finally made Gabe realize I was serious about moving on with my life. I wanted a husband and children, with or without him."
They both laughed at the memory. Back then, Gabe was a shy man, especially compared to Iva Mae, her outgoing sister.
And by fluke, it turned out the man, Frank Dolecek, who Iva Mae had been corresponded with in nearby Wilson, Kansas, married their sister, Maridell, instead.
“I assume you’re thinking about the men the Peashooter’s brought to town? Or Giles Mooney, the salesman, who shows up every other week to see you?”
“I don’t like Giles. He was too forward, wanting to kiss me,” Avalee firmly stated.
“Or, was he the wrong one wanting to steal a kiss?”
“No, his attempted kiss needed a ‘stomp on the foot’ response,” Avalee emphatically insisted.
“Oh, and I hope you delivered such?” Iva Mae leaned forward, hoping for a dramatic ending.
“We were interrupted before I got the chance,” Avalee felt silly telling Iva Mae now. She could have handled the situation swiftly without a second thought.
Their mother raised them to be strong, independent women, but Iva Mae carried the burden of caring for her younger sisters when her mother was between husbands and work. Iva Mae learned to act quickly when need be, to keep her sisters safe.
“What about the six men who’ve moved into town? I heard one is pretending to be your fiancé,” Iva Mae asked while wiggling her eyebrows.
“And which one of our little sisters told you that?”
“Oh, all four came over to spread the news—individually I might add—although they said I couldn’t tell anyone else.”
Avalee lined up the wooden blocks to entertain her nephews while she thought how she wanted to word a question.
“When the men came to town, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. I wasn’t sure I wanted a husband and a family. I like my job with Doctor Pansy and the idea of saying I had a fake fiancé just popped in my mind at the introduction luncheon.
“I also thought it was a way to discourage Giles Mooney too.”
“Back up. Why don’t you want a husband and family in your future?” Iva Mae asked softly, probably guessing it had to do with their past.
“I could never survive to go through what Mama did at our age. Losing her first husband to war when you were first born. Then being attacked by a man and giving birth to Maridell. My father was in his sixties when she married him, and then he died, leaving everything to his older children.
“And then Luella’s father—”
“Should have been shot for divorcing Mama and kicking us out of our house, without a penny in her reticule,” Iva Mae finished up her thoughts on their collective fathers.
They lived in train depots and ate leftover food thrown out by restaurants until their mother signed up to be a mail-order bride in Kansas.
“Yes, Mama had hard luck with men and relationships, but it doesn’t mean we all will. Mama met Ethan, who has been a wonderful husband, and father to all eight of us girls,” Iva Mae tried to assure her.
“Mama knew how wonderful love was with her first husband. And instead of mourning for him forever, she kept trying to find it again until she found Ethan.”
“She did it for us girls, too,” Avalee added.
“That’s what devoted mothers do for their children. It’s a fearless, passionate love for their offspring that’s hard to describe to you until you experience it yourself.”
Avalee watched her nephews and sensed what she’d do to protect them, even though she wasn’t their mother.
“I can’t imagine life without Gabe and our two boys, but the chance to love them now, and hopefully for a long time, is worth it.”
"Well, I have been pondering what life would be like with Gordon, but his life is still unsettled. The Taylors haven't decided what to do with their store. And right now, he's living with the group at the barbershop apartment."
"It's only been a short time since Gordon arrived in town. I bet everything will fall into place in the next month or two," Iva Mae said. "Remember you're planning your next fifty years. Be patient."
"I know. It's just that I see Amelia and Barton together now and, I kind of want that too," Avalee admitted.
"What are you going to do about it then?" Iva Mae challenged her.
"I’m not sure. And I've gotten two letters that have confused my thinking."
Avalee wasn't sure she was going to show the letters to Iva Mae, but maybe it would help her decide what to do about them. She reached into her skirt pocket and then handed the letters to her sister.
Iva Mae looked at the first envelope and pulled out the letter.
"Both typed envelopes are postmarked from Clear Creek, but I can't decide who sent them."
Iva Mae glanced at Avalee a second before going back to reading the first letter.
"It's short and to the point. 'I like you and want to marry you. Sincerely, G. M.' And G. M. stands for..." Ida Mae asked as she pulled the next letter.
"It could be either Giles Mooney or Gordon Miller."
"Oh, good gravy! And you just got this second letter, right?" Iva Mae asked as she looked at the postmark. It was today, two days after she got the first letter.
"And this is the week Giles is in town. Don't you see him at the hotel?"
"I avoid him any way I can," Avalee stated.
"This letter is short too, although a little more creative. 'Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you. Please marry me. Sincerely, G. M.'"
"The letters are so...simple. And I can't figure out why they are being sent when neither man is showing that kind of interest in me."
"Did you talk to Cullen about it? As postmaster, he should know who sent them."
"Tight-lipped Cullen? You know how seriously he protects his mail and patrons," Avalee scoffed.
Iva Mae brought the second letter close to her face and studied it.
"Remember the time we got in trouble for playing with the typewriter in the hotel office? You, or maybe it was Maridell, tried to pry the bars of the letters up with the claw of a hammer to see them better?"
"That was...me. And as you attempted to fix them, Ethan walked in. Good thing it wasn't Mama—or Grandma Paulson. We would have really been in trouble then."
"Look at the 'v' and the 'G.' They're slightly crooked on this letter."
Avalee took the letter, studied the typed words, and then gasped.
"Cecilia and Phoebe typed and sent these letters to me!" Avalee growled. "The little monsters! What are they up to?"
"Depends. Which man do they want you to be with?"
"Gordon. I bet they didn't even realize both men had the same initials."
Iva Mae sat back in her chair and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Here's another thought. Do you think they sent any letters to Gordon, signed A. P.?"
"Oh, dear! And what would they say?"
"Knowing the girls, probably the same letter each time. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"
"I don't know."
"Has Gordon said anything to you or acted strangely to give you a hint he's received letters too?"
"No. I saw him this morning when I went into the store, and he was his normal polite self."
"Well, then, you could ignore the letters were ever sent, or tell Gordon about them."
"Or corner the girls and make them tell me what they did!"
"True. But what outcome do you want from the letters? Do you want Gordon to court you? Would you like to pursue Gordon, with the intent to turn him into your real fiancé?"
Avalee would have
to think about that. What did she want to be doing next year? Five, ten, twenty years from now?
Her youngest nephew crawled into her lap, leaned against her chest, and gave a happy little sigh before sticking his thumb in his mouth.
Would she be happy watching her nephews and nieces grow up, if she stayed single, working for Doctor Pansy? Doctor Pansy married Mack Reagan, but they decided not to have children because of her dedication to her work.
Or did Avalee want a husband and her own family after all? Would working beside Gordon in the mercantile satisfy her need to contribute to Clear Creek?
Avalee had many options for the next several decades of her life, but Gordon was always the center of each scenario.
“I want Gordon,” Avalee stated out loud as she stroked the fine hair on the back of her nephew’s head.
“Excellent choice for your future. Now how are you going to proceed?” Iva Mae challenged her.
Avalee blew out a breath. She was going to have to ponder that a bit.
Would Gordon stomp on her foot and scream if she cornered him in the mercantile and kissed him? She just might have to try that and find out.
Chapter 13
How did the man do it?
Gordon watched Ethan Paulson eat, listen, and answer questions to six females at the same time. And to think three more daughters, Iva Mae, Maridell, and Luella, would have been around this table before they married and moved to their own homes.
Why did the man marry Helen, a woman with four daughters? The man had to be crazy or in love. And to think they had four more daughters after that.
"I hope we're not overwhelming you, Gordon," Helen asked from her end of the table. Gordon sat on the side of the table, between Cecilia and Phoebe. The girls raced to sit by him before their sisters could. Avalee sat across from him, with Nadine and Daphne flanking her. He glanced at Avalee's quiet smile before answering Helen.
"No, I'm fine, Mrs. Paulson. Wonderful food and company."
Actually, Gordon was savoring the meal of tender roast beef, scalloped potatoes, and soft rolls, although Tobin had a better recipe for the potatoes.
Avalee Exchanges Her Fiancé Page 7
