Wanted: Miller (Silverpines Series Book 10)

by George H. McVey

  Tonya herself was amazing to him, not to just survive but also try to thrive and recover on her own. She was four years younger than him and standing firm in her belief that she could keep her family’s business running. That alone had convinced him to accept her proposal of marriage. His father would balk at him leaving the mill and heading west, his mother at not getting to meet his bride or see any grandchildren that may come with time.

  To him the idea of helping these courageous people rebuild after such devastation was exciting. The possibility of getting to put some of his schooling to work, not just for the mill but for the whole town, was invigorating. Love, well he was sure that would come with time and if not, then at least he would have a companion who seemed as intelligent and engaging as he was.

  He cleared his throat, “Father, Mother, I have news to share with you.”

  They both looked at him as he gripped the letter from Tonya in his hand to give him courage to make this announcement. “What is it, Braylon? You look so serious,” his mother stated reaching out her hand to him. He walked over and took her hand in his and smiled. “Well, it isn’t every day you tell your mother you’re getting married.”

  She gasped. “Married? I didn’t know you were even courting anyone, son.”

  “I’m not; that’s only part of my announcement. See, I’m leaving Monday on the train to Silverpines, Oregon, to marry a young lady I’ve been corresponding with out there.”

  “Balderdash!” His father exclaimed. “I refuse to allow it. Running off west when there’s work here to do.”

  “I’m not asking your permission, Father; I’m telling you what I am doing. I already have the ticket and have agreed to marry the young woman.”

  “What young woman, Braylon?”

  “Her name is Antonia Woodson, Mother. She’s nineteen and she lives in Silverpines. You may remember that’s one of the towns hit back-to-back by those two earthquakes earlier this year. Her father owned a lumberyard and sawmill there and she’s been trying to run it all alone since his death during the quakes.”

  “Oh my, how terrible! Is she all alone then?”

  “She is, Mother, but she has so much spirit that she’s survived on determination alone from what I have been able to discern.”

  His father slapped his hand on the arm of his chair. “Then she should sell the mill and find herself a proper husband. That’s the decent thing to do.”

  Braylon stood up straighter. “Are you saying that I’m not a decent enough man to become her husband, Father?”

  “I’m saying you know nothing about this supposed young woman or her mill. For all you know this is a scheme to get money from you.”

  “Well, if it is she’s poorly begun since her letter includes train fare.”

  “You can’t go; I need you here. I won’t hear of it.”

  “You need me here? Doing what? Hauling bags of flour and cornmeal? Is that what you sent me to university for?”

  “I sent you to university because your mother was hopeful that you’d meet a girl in a bigger town and get married.”

  “Well, I have met a girl and I’m leaving Monday to marry her.”

  “NO!’

  His mother looked at her husband. “Charles, he’s a grown man; you can’t forbid him from following his own path.”

  “I can. I’m still his father and his employer. As long as he works for me and lives in my home, he’ll do as he’s told.”

  “I would have thought you’d be happy for me, Father. Just the other day you were telling me to find a wife and settle down and now I am.”

  “Happiness is overrated. You aren’t a child; it’s time you grow up and act like a man.”

  Braylon looked at his father and then leaned down and kissed his mother on the cheek. “Mother, I will see you Sunday at church before I leave town. Maybe we can have dinner together in town after services to say goodbye.”

  “Where are you going, son?”

  “I’m collecting my things. Father made it plain I need to act like a man so I shall.” He turned to his father. “I regret, Mr. Watts, to inform you that I will no longer be working for you. I’m heading west to marry and run the business my fiancée’s father left to her. I regret the short notice but I believe I will need the rest of this week to get my affairs in order. I’ll come collect my final wages on Friday. Now if you excuse me I must pack my belongings and secure lodging for the rest of the week.”

  “Now, you wait just a minute.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to tarry.”

  With that, Braylon turned and left his father sputtering and his mother berating him for treating their only son like he just had.

  He went to his room and began to pack his clothing and the few science books and periodicals into the trunks he’d used to move to university. Then he went downstairs and used the phone to call a taxi to take him to the local inn.

  Once there he sat and read over his letter again. He’d show it to his mother on Sunday before he left and make sure she had the address for the lumberyard.

  “Dear Mr. Watts,

  Thank you for your response to my advertisement. I will admit that I, too, was amazed at some of the advertisements in the Groom’s Gazette but more so in the fact that most of the ones I saw wouldn’t have incited me to want to be the man’s wife. It seems most men wanted a woman who would cook and clean and raise children. While I have nothing against that and hope one day to have my own children to raise, in case you were wondering, I don’t think telling me you want me to care for the eight you already have would bring me to the middle of the wilderness.

  I know my advertisement was short on information so let me give you some. My name is Antonia Woodson but everyone here in town calls me Tonya. My father ran Woodson’s Lumber until the day of the disasters as we call them here in Silverpines, Oregon. You may have read about them in the paper; we’ve been told the eastern papers find our little town’s tragedy fascinating. Silverpines was a large mining and timber town until two earthquakes struck us a day apart causing the mine to collapse and a mudslide that wiped out our timber workers’ homes. In two days the majority of our town was lost and almost all of our husbands, fathers, and brothers were killed either in the collapse or the mudslide, including my own loving father.

  Honestly, I do want a husband and a home and a family of my own. I just never needed to rush into that decision and probably would have ended up marrying one of my father’s timber workers or a local young man if not for this disaster. Now I find myself in need of a husband quickly and one who can help with my family’s business. While you don’t have experience in the lumber industry you are educated and know the basic of milling in general and like you I suspect between us we can turn my family’s business around.

  I know that normally in a situation like this we would exchange letters for a while but I am in desperate need and you fit that need. So if you are willing I’m enclosing the funds for a ticket from Ohio to Silverpines as well as what I can afford for your needs to get here. I would appreciate it if you would telegraph me with your arrival date so that I may make arrangements for our wedding and meet you at the station. I’ve enclosed my photograph so that you will recognize me, though honestly I will probably be the only red-haired woman at the station. We are something of a rarity I’m told.

  Anxiously awaiting your telegram,

  Tonya Woodson.

  The photo she’d enclose was breathtaking and he found himself stroking his finger along her cheek in the photo wondering if it was as soft as it looked. He also couldn’t help but wonder what shade of red her hair was. Did it have the hue of a carrot or more that of sunrise? Was it more orange or strawberry? Was is soft or wire like?

  He couldn’t wait to arrive and find out. In the morning he’d go and purchase his ticket but he wouldn’t use the funds she sent. He would return those when he arrived. After getting his ticket he’d send her a wire with his arrival details then make arrang
ements at the bank to close his personal accounts. He’d always hoped to propose with his grandmother’s ring but he doubted his father would allow that. He still couldn’t believe the audacity of his father to forbid him to go as if he were still a child. It was beyond his understanding. However, he would put the situation behind him much like he would Ohio as he strode into a future with Tonya and a town called Silverpines.

  Chapter Two

  Tonya stood holding the telegram in her hand. Ten days. Her husband Braylon would be here in ten days. Her heart started racing at that thought. She had a lot to get done in ten days. She needed to clean the house, get a dress, arrange with Pastor James to have her wedding, and let her friends know. Suddenly she was overwhelmed, but for once it wasn’t because of the mill. She could look out and see the logs and not wonder if she was going to make it another month because in ten days she’d have a husband who would be able to help her get those logs milled. She wouldn’t have to order more wood from Portland; she could sell her own lumber. For the first time since she got Braylon’s picture and letter, a smile graced her face. She rushed up to her room to pull his photograph out of her drawer. She hadn’t looked at it since she wrote him back not wanting to get too attached to his handsome face if he said no to her proposal. She hadn’t gotten another letter so she assumed this was going to be her only choice and it had scared her that she was stuck waiting for him to get back in touch with her. Now he had.

  She placed the photo on the edge of her mirror so she could look at her handsome husband-to-be every day till he got here. She was slipping her apron on to go to town and get started on the rest of her list when she heard a loud knocking on the door. She hurried downstairs to see who was there, only to stop when she saw three men she’d never seen before standing on her front stoop. She went into her father’s office and pulled one of his peacemakers from the desk drawer, making sure it was loaded. As she’d told Braylon, there were too many thieves and con men for her to open the door unarmed with three men she didn’t know standing there.

  Keeping the revolver at her side, she cautiously opened the door. All three men were large, dressed in flannel shirts and jeans with the distinct boots she knew lumberjacks wore. These were men in the timber industry; of that she had no doubt. “Yes, can I help you?”

  The one in the middle removed the cap he was wearing and nudged the men on either side to do the same. Close up it was obvious the three were brothers. “Excuse me, miss, but we went by the mill and no one was there. We were wondering if we might speak to Mr. Woodson.”

  “Mister Woodson isn’t here right now. What did you need?”

  “Oh.” The man’s shoulders fell. “Would you know when he’d be returning, miss? See, my brothers and I are looking for work in the trees.”

  “I see and do you have experience in timber, mister?

  The large blonde blushed startling Tonya. “Miss, I’m going to tell you my name but please don’t laugh. It’s rather embarrassing you see. My father was a religious man but not a lumberman and he didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late.”

  Her brow wrinkled wondering what this giant of a man was about to say. “My name is…umm…Paul, ma’am, Paul Bunyan. These are my brothers Peter and James, ma’am.”

  “I see he named you after apostles not realizing he stuck you with the name of the most famous lumberjack in the United States.”

  Tonya struggled not to laugh but she couldn’t help from picking on him just a bit. “And like your namesake, Paul, can you fall a tree with one mighty blow from your ax?”

  Paul grinned a cocky grin and said, “Well, miss, that would depend on the size of the tree, now wouldn’t it?”

  With that, Tonya could see the tension leave the big man’s body and she laughed. “A very astute answer, Mister Bunyan. You’re looking for work you say?”

  “Yes ma’am, we heard about the disaster and thought maybe the timber boss here could use three good men. We have references; we just prefer to work together and that just wasn’t possible at our last camp.”

  “Gentlemen, walk over to the mill with me.”

  “Ma’am, there weren’t no one at the mill.”

  “No, there wouldn’t be, would there? Let me ask, would you have any problem working for a woman temporarily?”

  The three looked at each other then back to her. “Ma’am?”

  Tonya said a prayer that she wasn’t making a mistake but she had been praying for help for so long she was just going to trust that three men named after apostles and one after the most famous lumberjack of all time just had to be answers to her prayers. A way to get started before her husband got here, freeing her to get things set for him to start when he got here. If nothing else, if they were willing she’d be able to get them to clean up the logjam mess and get all the logs stacked at the lumberyard.

  “It’s like this, Mr. Bunyan. I’m Miss Woodson. My father died in that disaster you spoke of and my husband isn’t set to arrive for ten more days. However, I have a lot of logs that need to be moved and milled. That has to happen before we can even think of trying to get back into the trees. So I’ll ask you again, do you or your brothers have trouble working for me for the next few weeks till my husband has time to get here, marry me, and get settled in?”

  “Ma’am, if it means we can work together and stay together we don’t have a problem working for the devil hisself.”

  “While my hair may be red, no one has ever accused me of being Ole Scratch yet. Have any of you run a mill before?”

  “The smaller of the three nodded, “I have, miss. Well, I helped run one. That’s why we need to move on; the mill at our last cut closed and I weren’t allowed to stay with my brothers. We promised our Ma just before she passed that we’d stay together.”

  “All right, how about this? I’ll hire the three of you temporarily. After my husband arrives he may or may not keep you on but I can at least get you a few days’ work, a warm dry place to sleep, and a few home-cooked meals. In the meantime you’ll help me get some of the mess from the disaster straightened up and some much-needed timber milled. What do you say?”

  The three looked at each other again before Paul addressed her. “No disrespect intended, Miss Woodson, but how much? And where would we stay? We wouldn’t want to damage your reputation before you intended gets here.”

  “No disrespect taken, gentlemen. You are just making me feel more at ease about hiring you the more you talk. We’ve had to be careful, a town full of women; some very disreputable men have been trying to take advantage and everything you gentlemen are saying proves to me that I can trust you with my legacy as well as my person and reputation. So let’s say two dollars a day apiece, Sundays off, and as for where to stay, there are several bunk rooms on the top floor of the mill. My father used to have six workers at one time. You’ll stay there but take you breakfast and supper meal with me at the main house and dinner from a pail on site.”

  “That will work for us, miss.”

  “Good. Now again, my husband may renegotiate with you when he arrives but my mill has been sitting useless since the disaster and as you’ll see, there is a lot to get done before we can even think about cutting more timber.”

  “Yes, miss.”

  “We’re going to be working together; I reckon you men may as well call me Tonya. It will just be simpler. I’ll have to figure out which brother is Peter and James but I reckon I’ll just look for the fella knocking trees down with one blow to know who’s Paul.”

  They all three laughed as Tonya showed them the mill, pointed out which entrance would get them up to the bunk rooms, and then showed them the lumber to be milled and explained where the logs had been dragged ashore from the logjam. She then took them to the stable and showed them the wagon and mules they could use. “Get settled in today and we’ll start working first thing in the morning.”

  “Yes ma’am, and thank you.”

  “The thanks are mine, gentlemen. You are truly answers to many p
rayers I’ve been praying these last few weeks.”

  “I’ll leave you to settle in. Supper will be at six; I’ll expect you then.”

  “Yes, miss.”

  Tonya left them to settle in and continued toward town with a spring in her step and a song in her heart. She arrived at Betsy’s place and knocked before letting herself in. She was about to call out for her friend when she heard her being sick in the water closet Alexzander had installed for her not long ago. She rushed to the door and knocked. “Betsy, are you sick? Should I go get Doctor Richards or Hattie for you?”

  The young woman came out of the room wiping her mouth. “No, I don’t need Hattie or Doc yet. You could make me some ginger tea if you want. That will help.”

  Tonya’s eyes went wide. “Ginger tea? Betsy, are you…?”

  Her friend smiled, “Pregnant? Yes, but we haven’t told anyone yet.”

  “Oh my, could this day get any better?”

  “Well, my friend could make me ginger tea. That would make it better for me.”

  “Of course. You come sit while I do that.”

  She helped Betsy to the table and set the kettle on the stove.

  “So, Tonya Woodson, what has you in such high spirits today?”

  “I got a telegram from Braylon this morning for starters.”

  “You did? What did it say? Is he coming? Of course he’s coming. He took one look at your photograph and hopped the next train, didn’t he?”

  Tonya giggled. “Not quite but he’ll be here in ten days. But that’s not all. Three lumberjacks showed up at the door this morning. They all start working in the morning. I’m gonna have lumber to sell before he gets here and they’ll help get the logs moved, too.”