Olivia’s Obligation: The Alphabet Mail Order Brides

by McKenzie, Peggy

Perhaps he had thought about her offer of friendship. Could her stubborn husband be coming around? She wasn’t ready to trust him yet, although he seemed less and less inclined to argue with her about who was controlling what.

  She was both relieved and disappointed when he announced he had business in town and left the house. His nearness made her stomach flutter with anticipation, and yet she reminded herself he had been absent every night until the wee hours of the morning for the past three weeks since their wedding. She had agreed to release him from his vow of fidelity and he had taken it to heart.

  Thoughts of this morning’s misadventures upstairs pulled her thoughts to a very dangerous place. She closed her eyes and savored the memories of her husband’s half-naked unexpected appearance in the upstairs hallway. Visions of Chance clutching those bedcovers around his waist, his well-muscled chest bare and in full view sent tingles through her body.

  Her fingers itched to reach out and explore the dark trail that fell from his chest, marched down his taut stomach, and disappeared beneath those lucky bedsheets.

  She shook her head to clear those enticing images from her thoughts. She had work to do and daydreaming about the man wouldn’t change the reality of their situation. She wasn’t stupid and he wasn’t trustworthy. End of discussion.

  She pulled her attention to her task at hand and pulled out all the pots and pans, skillets and bowls, dishes and mixing utensils until every cabinet was empty. Then she scrubbed. Every shelf. Every cabinet. Every square inch of that kitchen was attacked with a scrub brush and soap.

  Satisfied with her work, she replaced all of the dishes on to the shelves, organizing them as best she could. Then, she called the children from their rooms.

  “How would you like to help me bake some of my famous cinnamon rolls? Does that sound like fun?” Olivia asked. All the women she grew up with in the school had learned to perfect their own specialty dish. Some learned their lessons better than others. She knew how to bake bread, but she loved making homemade cinnamon rolls the best. It was her claim to fame at school and it was everyone’s delight for holidays and special occasions.

  All the children jumped and laughed, but Amanda stopped short. “Ollie, we don’t know how to bake rolls. Momma said we were too young to be in the kitchen with the hot pots on the stove.”

  “That was true then, but that was three years ago. Now, you are all much older, isn’t that right?”

  The children nodded in agreement. Christopher had written to her how his beloved Tessa died from complications after giving birth to Tara, but he never let on to the children. He didn’t want Tara’s legacy to be that she was somehow responsible for her mother’s death. And he didn’t want the other children to somehow blame little Tara for something completely out of her control.

  “Well then, I think it is time we started our first cooking lesson and what better way to display our success than to produce a delicious confection to eat at the end of our lesson. Is everyone ready to begin?”

  “But Tara’s too little. She can’t even reach the cabinets,” Charlie observed. Evan and Amanda exchanged looks and nodded in agreement.

  “Everyone has the opportunity to do what they can. Tara can’t mix the dough but she can help roll the dough out. Or she can scoop the sugar or smear the butter. It’s not that she’s too little, it’s just that we haven’t discovered her talents yet.” Olivia walked to the large closet pantry in the rear of the kitchen while she spoke.

  She returned with large sacks of sugar and flour. The children’s faces were wrinkled in thought. She could tell they were really thinking about what she said. “Now then, all I need is brown sugar, milk, butter and some compressed yeast and we shall be ready to begin our lesson.”

  “I’ll get the butter and the milk.” Charlie announced and rushed out the door to the root cellar by the back door. Two minutes later, he was back with a cold jug of milk and a block of butter.

  Olivia took the butter and milk and set it on the table. “Now, I’ll put a big chunk of this butter in a pan on the stove and turn the heat down very low. We can melt it and let it cool. Otherwise, if the butter is too hot, the heat will ruin the yeast and the rolls won’t rise.”

  “Why?” Amanda scooted up to the kitchen table and studied the block of yeast as if trying to unlock the mysteries of the thing.

  “It’s all scientific, Amanda. That’s why it’s so important to go to school and get a proper education. Everything around us has scientific properties and wouldn’t it be so nice to understand how everything worked? Then, we can predict what will happen.”

  “Like magic?” Evan offered.

  “Kind of like magic, I suppose. Now, let’s get started. Amanda, this is your first fraction lesson. Measure out two and one-half cups of flour and dump it into the mixing bowl. Can you do that?” Olivia handed the little girl a measuring cup.

  “I think so, Ollie.” Amanda answered and climbed up on to a chair and dipped the cup into the sack of flour.

  “Now, Charlie and Evan. Your job is going to be the same as Amanda, but you are going to measure brown sugar and white sugar. And please be careful boys, sugar on the floor is hard to sweep away.”

  She watched the children, their little faces serious and focused on their tasks.

  Olivia picked up three-year-old Tara and sat her in her high chair next to the table. “Now you and I are going to measure the milk and cut the yeast.” She poured Tara a glass of milk and set to cubing the concentrated yeast block. Soon, the children stood back from their jobs and announced, “We’re done. Come look, Ollie. Did we do it correctly?”

  “Well, let’s see.” She eyed the flour in the bowl. Then she did the same for the brown sugar and white sugar. She didn’t remeasure the ingredients because she wanted them to feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of a job well done. “Everything looks perfect, now let’s mix everything together into the flour and we’ll make our dough.”

  “I want to mix it!” Charlie and Evan shouted out at once. Both boys dove for the bowl of sugars.

  “No, I want to mix it!” Amanda demanded. She covered the bowl of flour with her body to keep her brother’s from usurping her territory.

  Olivia didn’t know exactly when she lost control of her classroom—and her kitchen—but suddenly the flour bowl tipped under Amanda’s weight and they both tumbled to the floor. Evan slipped on the chair, knocking it over and the bowl of sugar fell on his head covering him with granulated sweetness. Olivia’s lessons of fractions and scientific calculations had turned into a very messy alternative.

  * * *

  Chance had left the house right after breakfast and he had to admit, if only to himself, the intimacy of the morning meal felt—nice. And yet, it was that same intimacy that forced him to flee.

  He did have legitimate business to attend to and he wanted to send off his telegrams early so he might get replies back before the end of this week. He had some life altering decisions to make and he was running out of time.

  He notified his accountant that he had opened a bank account in Creede and he needed several thousand dollars transferred there at his earliest convenience. He knew the extra money would come in handy when the school was finished and his little school teacher wife began classes.

  Then he send a message to his estate manager to postpone the remodel of the third floor until this fall. He couldn’t predict what the future held for him in Creede, but he did know it was too soon to move the children from the only home they had ever known. There would be time for disruption of their lives later if things didn’t work out—

  His thoughts skidded to an abrupt stop. If things didn’t work out?

  July was only a week away. He had bought the children’s tickets to Boston when he first arrived thinking he would make the return trip within a few weeks, but now he didn’t want to use those tickets to leave town. At least, not right now.

  And then there was the dilemma of what to do with Olivia. She was not going to be agreeable
to take the children back to Boston when she had her heart set on staying in Creede and running the new school, but could he stay in Creede longer than the summer? He no longer had a clear picture of what was right and wrong.

  Thoughts of his conversation with Liam a few weeks ago drifted through his doubts. Sometimes life wasn’t black and white but all shades of gray. Maybe another visit to his friend and legal adviser would help him reach clarity in the matter.

  He passed people on the street, obvious curiosity in their stares as to what could have happened to give him such a shiner.

  Thoughts of this morning resurfaced and he grinned at the sight of Olivia playing ball with the children in the hallway, her eyes bright with joy, her hair flowing in dark waves down to her waist, and her long slender legs peeking out from her whisper thin gauzy nightgown.

  And it didn’t help that he knew exactly how her body felt beneath his. Kissing her this morning had been a colossal mistake. Colossal.

  He discreetly adjusted himself beneath his coat while he walked down the boardwalk toward the law offices of Hanover and O’Brien. Chance prided himself in being a smart man. This morning’s antics weren’t only not smart, they were downright stupid. He knew better than to get caught in a compromising situation with a woman—even if that woman was his wife.

  Chance grimaced at the thought. He was a married man and he now had a wife and four children to look after. It seemed he had stepped into his brother’s shoes without even knowing what was happening.

  He looked back upon the days when he was outside and looking in on Chris’s life. The chaos he witnessed nearly paralyzed him. Now, he was no longer watching from the outskirts. He was right in the middle of the whole married with children thing and he was surprised to find—it wasn’t as chaotic as it had once appeared.

  It was a little after eleven o’clock in the morning. He knew he would find Liam hard at work. He stepped inside the law office and closed the door behind him, the bell overhead ringing his arrival.

  He heard rustling somewhere past the reception area’s door and soon Liam peeked around the corner to see who had arrived.

  “Ah, Chance. Good to see—” Liam stopped short when he caught a good look at him. “What on earth happened to your eye? You look like you’ve been in a bar fight, and a doozy one at that. How about a cup of strong coffee? Come in. Come in and tell me what happened.”

  Chance followed Liam into his office and took the leather chair he offered, his friend’s large desk between them.

  “Did we have an appointment this morning? I didn’t see anything on my calendar....”

  “No. I didn’t have an appointment. I was hoping I might catch you between clients, but if this isn’t a good time—”

  “No, it’s good. My first client won’t be here for another half hour or so. Sit and tell me what happened to your eye, if you don’t mind me prying?” Liam probed.

  Chance sat in the chair across from Liam’s desk and grimaced. “It was an accident—I think. I’ll tell you about in a moment. Right now, I want to ask you about Chris’s will.”

  “What about your brother’s will? I’m not sure what else Hiram or I can say or do for that matter. Your brother was adamant about the content, and equally adamant the will not be contested.” Liam frowned at him across the desk. “That’s not why you are here, is it? Because I can’t, in all good conscience, advise you to try to contest—”

  “No, I’m not here to contest the will. I understand the legalities of it. I was just hoping you could shed some light on my brother’s frame of mind when he asked for this strange will. And the timing was quite odd, don’t you think?”

  “How do you mean?” Liam took out his legal pad and pencil.

  “Well, don’t you think it a bit more than coincidental that Chris had a contract with a mail-order bride, and then before she could arrive, he died of an illness he had to have known about for weeks, maybe even months?”

  “Chris was a practical man and he would do whatever he had to do to protect his family.” Liam offered as an explanation.

  “But, what if he knew somehow he was going to die and Miss Palmer was already on the way to Creede? And, what if sometime after he signed the marriage contract, Chris found reason to distrust her and the new marriage contract between me and his mail-order bride was contrived to keep me in town? Maybe Chris wanted me here because he needed me to keep a watchful eye on his children—and Miss Palmer.”

  Chance watched Liam lay his pencil down on top of his legal pad and study him for a moment before he spoke. “Why wouldn’t he have just come to Hiram or me and ask us to declare the contract null and void based upon any number of legal reasons. I think perhaps your brother was being proactive for his children’s sake and, although he trusted Miss Palmer to look out after his children, he thought perhaps she might need help in building the school he had pledged to build after the old one burned to the ground.”

  Chance met the shrewd gaze of the legal mind across the desk.

  “So, you think Chris wanted me to marry this stranger because he wanted me to build a school?”

  “I think he wanted you here because you are his brother and he loved you.”

  Liam’s words poked at his guilt for not coming immediately when his brother first wrote to him.

  “I wish he had been plain spoken and just told me he was ill. I would have dropped everything and come running. He had to know that.” Chance heard the catch in his voice and took a deep breath.

  “Are you still suspicious of your wife?” Liam wanted to know.

  “And if I were, would I be unreasonable in those suspicions?”

  Liam shrugged. “Well, it has been more than three weeks since you and she married. I would think if she were being duplicitous, it would be obvious by now. Look, I know you loved your brother and you want to understand why he did what he did, but I’m not certain Olivia Palmer is the villain you are making her out to be.”

  Liam stood and walked to the cast iron stove in the corner to pour himself a cup of hot coffee. He raised the cup in Chance’s direction. “Want one?” he offered.

  Chance shook his head no. “Thanks, but I probably should head on home and see if that wife of mine needs any help with the children.”

  Memories of her playing with the children again pulled a smile across his face. Liam returned to his chair and caught Chance’s grin. “What’s so amusing? The accident?”

  “Yes. The accident. When I awoke this morning to a commotion outside my bedroom door, I opened it and found my brother’s four children in their nightclothes playing ball in the hallway with Olivia in the lead.”

  “I see.” Liam nodded in understanding. “So not an unpleasant situation I take it from the grin on your face.”

  Chance met the knowing eyes of the man sitting across from him. “No, it wasn’t unpleasant at all. Actually, it was quite—enjoyable. That is, until I stepped in front of a wooden croquet ball and it caught me in the face.” He didn’t elaborate to Liam about what happened next.

  “Ah, hence the black eye.” Liam grinned and he seemed much more amused than he should be.

  “There was something about this morning that bothered me. Miss Palmer, Olivia, told me she thought I frightened the children. She said I was too stern and intimidating. Do you think the children are afraid of me?”

  “Chance, those children love you and you love them—”

  “That’s not what I asked, Liam. I asked you if you think the children are afraid of me.”

  Liam met his eyes with a thoughtful gaze. “I think those children have been through hell and they have lost their very foundation of security. That was very important to your brother. He wanted those children to have stability after Tessa died, especially if anything should happen to him.”

  “You aren’t answering my question, counsellor.” Chance recognized evasion when he saw it.

  “No, I suppose I’m not. And no, I don’t think the children are afraid of you. I think they are uns
ure of you. Quite a different matter, don’t you think?”

  “That’s what Olivia said. She said I needed to show the children how much I love them. And that I should soften my voice and smooth my scowl a bit when I speak to them.”

  Liam chuckled and stood. “I’d say your wife is quite astute as a teacher and as a blooming mother of four small children. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a client due in twenty-minutes and I’m not quite prepared.”

  “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice, Liam. I have a lot to learn about raising children, don’t I?” Chance stood and extended his hand across the desk to shake Liam’s.

  Liam took his hand in a firm handshake. “You are a good man, Chance. Trust in your brother’s wisdom. And remember, he loved you every bit as much as he loved his children. He would never put you in an untenable situation.”

  “He wouldn’t intentionally, but....” He didn’t know how to finish his sentence. He knew Liam’s observation regarding the situation had merit, but he wasn’t ready to concede just yet. And he knew the reason why. It was his suspicions that kept him from claiming her as his own, and he wasn’t ready to concede that his heart might be in jeopardy of falling for his little school teacher wife.

  Liam walked him to the door and just before he closed it behind Chance, he added a last-minute observation.

  “Hey, try to stay out from in front of flying wooden croquet balls, why don’t you? It’s the best legal advice I can give you at the moment.” The man gave Chance a cheeky grin.

  “Thanks a lot. I’ll keep that in mind.” Chance replied, his sarcasm evident in his tone. He left his friend and turned up the boardwalk to head home where his new family waited.

  Chapter 13

  Olivia watched the children’s shocked faces at the mess on the floor. Every child stood frozen in place as if remaining still would prevent her from seeing what they had done. Their eyes round, they turned to her as if unsure how they should react. She solved their dilemma for them.