Ruth: A Needful Bride (Brides 0f Needful Texas Book 5)

by Danni Roan

  A warm arm reached for her and Darwin pulled her close pressing her cheek to his bare chest. Ruth snuggled closer feeling the comfort of his strong arms around her. She had been afraid of storms even as a child, and despite everyone’s assurances, she hadn’t grown out of it.

  “It’s just a storm darlin’,” Darwin’s sleepy voice drawled. “They can be fierce here in Texas, but this house is sound. After all, I built it myself.”

  Ruth let out a breath trying to release the tension that wrapped around her chest. “I’ve always been afraid of storms,” she admitted. “I don’t know why. It wasn’t so bad in the big house back home,” she admitted her eyes growing heavy as Darwin’s hand stroked her back.

  Darwin’s eyes opened wide as her words hit him like a fist. The big house back home? She was from Philadelphia and her family had a big home. Just who was this woman he had married, and why, if she had a big house and family back East, had she come to Needful as a mail-order bride?

  “Is your whole family still living there?” Darwin asked quietly but Ruth’s breathing had settled into a steady rhythm, and she was sound asleep.

  Darwin looked down at the woman in his arms her face peaceful in the glow of the embers on the hearth. Who was she? Had he made every horseman’s’ mistake and not taken the time to look the gift horse in the eye? Ruth whimpered in her sleep, and he pulled her close protectively. Perhaps he hadn’t looked the gift horse in the mouth or the eye, but the reality was that he liked the woman’s cheerful nature and determined spirit. She had come to Needful to marry, and he had wanted a wife. Somehow, God willing, they could work everything else out.

  Darwin closed his eyes feeling the warm body pressed against him as the storm marched across the valley and away from Needful. Perhaps he had married in haste, but, at the moment, he didn’t care. “God, I’m just gonna trust you brought this woman here to Texas for me. You know my heart, and I’ll try to let you work it all out.”

  Chapter 14

  Ruth woke to an empty bed again, but she could still feel Darwin’s strong arms around her from the night before. He had held her tight when the storm raged offering her comfort and safety, never chastising her over her silly fear.

  To her surprise, warm sunlight trickled through the windows, dancing on the breeze that ruffled the cheery curtains, making her smile. The brilliant yellow of the gingham was as bright as the golden light in the sky, and it made Ruth feel a sense of well being that she hadn’t remembered from ever before.

  Sliding out of bed she pulled out the drawer of her trunk and dug for her most serviceable dress. Perhaps it was still a little to elegant for Needful, Texas, but it was the best she could do. Darwin seemed content to hang his extra clothing on a peg on the wall by the bed, but she was determined to bring at least a little sophistication to her new home.

  Piling her hair up into a semblance of a chignon, she washed her face and hurried across to the Hampton House for breakfast and perhaps something more.

  “Ruth dear, what are you doing here?” Olive asked as the younger woman walked into the eatery.

  “I came for breakfast,” Ruth smiled then bit her lip before blurting. “And to help around the Hampton House, so I can learn to cook and clean.”

  Olive’s eyebrows rose but a kind smile spread across her house. “Is Darwin unhappy with your abilities so far?”

  Ruth blushed but shook her head. “No, he. Uhm, you see he doesn’t really know. We haven’t discussed it.”

  “What you mean is he doesn’t know you can’t cook,” Olive shook her head but her bright smile was kind. “You don’t need to cook, Darwin knows his meals are included in with his wages and that means his wife as well.”

  Ruth grinned, feeling a little more at ease but still determined. “I understand that,” she started, following Olive toward the kitchen, “but some day, I’d like to be able to cook a meal for the two of us. Something special you see.”

  “Yes, I think I do,” Olive agreed. “Come on back to the kitchen, and I’ll see if Rosa will let you help her. She hasn’t been the best company since her husband died this past year, but she is the best cook in town.” the older woman added looking sad. “Rosa, this is Ruth,” she called as they stepped into the steamy kitchen. The heat in this room was worse than it was outside, and Ruth felt perspiration spring upon her brow almost instantly.

  “Hello,” the petite black-haired woman said glancing over her shoulder then turning back toward the large pot on the stove before her.

  “Hello,” Ruth offered looking between the small Hispanic woman and Olive.

  “Ruth is going to help you here in the kitchen for a while,” Olive spoke her words firm and she stood a little taller when Rosa turned to say she didn’t need any help. “I know you don’t need any help,” Olive Hampton waved the woman’s protests away, “but Ruth does.”

  Rosa eyed Ruth’s pleasantly rounded form from the hem of her pink dress to the sparkling spectacles on her nose and shrugged. “You will want an apron for your pretty dress.”

  Ruth grinned all but bouncing on the balls of her feet as Olive settled a long apron over her head. “See that you don’t burn the stew or your hem,” Mrs. Hampton grinned taking up two full plates and heading back out the door.

  “You do not cook?” Rosa asked giving the pot a stir and tapping her long wooden spoon on the edge.

  “No,” Ruth admitted feeling her face heat. “No one ever taught me.”

  A childish giggle from the corner of the kitchen made Ruth turn to see a little girl of nearly two sitting in an odd little pen playing with her toys. The child’s dark hair, warm brown eyes, and olive skin declared her Rosa’s daughter.

  “Is this your daughter?” Ruth asked squatting next to the baby and brushing her dark locks from her eyes. “She’s so beautiful.”

  “She is Christina,” Rosa said a softness entering her voice that made Ruth turn to look at her. The hard dark eyes from a moment ago had melted as they had filled with love. “Now come, we cook.”

  Ruth watched everything Rosa did nodding or asking questions when she didn’t understand. Her stomach grumbled as she realized she had missed breakfast, but decided that lunch would be soon enough to eat. “How do you know all of this?” she asked Rosa as they began to prepare a thick batter for corn bread. “It’s like you have all the food in the world stored up in your head.”

  To Ruth’s surprise, Rosa chuckled and little Christina hearing her mother’s mirth stood at the rail of her pen and bounced, giggling as well.

  “When you start cooking at age six years you learn many things,” Rosa said handing the spoon to Ruth and lifting Christina into her arms. “You stir, I will be right back.”

  Ruth carefully stirred the pot of stew making sure to drag her spoon over the bottom to insure nothing stuck as Rosa had taught her. She could tell that Rosa was unhappy, yet she could see the rays of light tugging at the woman as well. Only time healed a broken heart, and from what Olive had said Rosa had loved her husband very much. She hoped in time the beautiful Mexican woman would find love again. She also hoped that by learning to cook, she would be one step closer to winning Darwin’s heart.

  ***

  Over the next few days Ruth established a routine. She would rise, make up the bed, tidy the house and hurry to the boarding house kitchen to learn more about cooking with Rosa. She had already successfully roasted a chicken dinner on Friday night and was pleased when Darwin didn’t seem to notice anything different about the food he ate for supper.

  Though Rosa was still quiet, Ruth could sense a companionship growing between them, and she often chatted about her life in Philadelphia with Rosa explaining that growing up she hadn’t been allowed in the kitchens, or even to talk with the servants for that matter.

  “Does Darwin know this?” Rosa asked one afternoon. “He may feel that he has taken you away from an easy life.”

  Ruth dropped her gaze. “I haven’t told him much about my past,” she admitted. “I wanted to star
t fresh. I didn’t want him to think I couldn’t be happy here with him in Needful.”

  Rosa reached out patting Ruth’s plump cheek. “You want him to love you for who you are,” she said as a tear sprang to her eye. “You must be honest with your man,” she chided gently. “Truth is important, without it there is nothing.”

  Ruth watched as Rosa raced from the room leaving her to oversee the noontime meal on her own. Silently, she prayed that Olive, Shi or one of the other Hampton women would join her. Things could go very wrong, very quickly, with her on her own. Still her heart ached for Rosa’s obvious distress.

  “Where’s Rosa?” Olive asked walking into the kitchen a few moments later.

  “She ran out,” Ruth shook her head, wiping a hand nervously on her apron. “She was crying.”

  Olive shook her hand. “It isn’t your fault.” The older woman moved to the play pen and lifted Christina out. “I’m going to take this little one over to Daliah Gaines for a bit,” she said. “She likes to play with the other children when she can, and it will give Rosa time to pull herself together. She’s been doing much better recently,” she added with a sad shake of her head.

  “If you don’t mind my asking,” Ruth looked up from stirring some kind of thick white sauce. “What happened?”

  “It’s a sad tale,” Olive said. “Raul, Rosa’s husband, moved them here to make a better living. At first things didn’t go so well. He had a little farm, but there was a drought, and he lost everything. That’s why they came to Needful, and he took a job as a cowhand. For a bigger man, he was a mighty fine hand from what everyone says, and the fact he spoke Spanish and English and had family in Mexico made him a natural for trips across the border to trade or buy cattle. What no one knew was that when he got into trouble, he went to his brother for a loan.”

  “That doesn’t sound bad.” Ruth looked at Olive confused.

  “Raul’s brother is a very bad man, an outlaw of sorts. He’s been raiding back and forth across the border for years, and though there is a very large price on his head, no one has ever been able to get him. Raul went to see him. To pay him off, but two bounty hunters mistook him for his brother and shot Raul dead.”

  Ruth gasped covering her mouth with her hand. “That’s terrible,” she sighed.

  “On top of that he hadn’t told Rosa a thing about it. The shock was terrible.”

  Ruth nodded understanding now why Rosa had fled after the discussion about truth. Perhaps it was time to tell Darwin about her past and family. Things had been going so well though that she hesitated to consider it. Why create a problem when she and her very handsome husband were getting along so well.

  Over the past week, he had been happy to find her in the Hampton House at lunch and again at suppertime. He hadn’t even fussed at the growing pile of clothing that needed washed in their little home.

  “Well don’t bring it up if you can help it. Not with Rosa and especially not with Mayor Dan, it’s a sore spot with him that Rosa won’t let him set her up in a comfortable house, so she doesn’t have to work all the time.”

  “But why would he do that?” Ruth studied Olive perplexed.

  “He feels he’s responsible for Raul’s death. He used to use him for trips over to Mexico, and says if he’d known the man was strapped for cash, he would have helped him out.”

  “He sounds like a good man.”

  “That he is,” Olive agreed, “but Dan is every bit as stubborn as Rosa herself. “I’ll admit it is what makes him such a great Mayor. He truly cares about Needful and its people. It’s because of Dan Gaines that Needful exists. He started a ranch here and built it up with a few friends after the war. They took to catching the wild cattle in the area and built something right out of nothing. Once things were comin’ along, he wrote to his brother Spencer and asked him to come live and work here, him and his son Chad both.”

  “Spencer’s the sheriff isn’t he?”

  “He is,” Olive smiled her dark eyes filling with affection. “Spencer fell in love with our dear Daliah,” she grinned. “We joined his little wagon train and traveled here all the way from Smithfield, Missouri. That man didn’t want to fall in love with that girl, but it was meant to be,” she finished with a wink.

  Ruth grinned wondering what it would be like to travel by wagon train slowly getting to know each other and courting.

  “Now if Dan would have enough sense to find a wife as well. He’d be better off for it, but so far he hasn’t been interested in a single bride that’s come to Needful.”

  “That’s why you started sending for brides isn’t it?” Ruth gasped moving a pot from the stove to keep it from boiling over. “You want to find a match for Mr. Gains.”

  Olive tried to deny it, but finally laughed. “Yes, but only Orville knows. Of course I also think this town just plain needs good, upstanding woman to help shape it into a proper town. We already have a church and the children go to school. My own grandchildren are pleased as punch to have someone like Old Ben to guide them through their studies, and they think he about hung moon and stars.”

  “Olive?” Rosa walked back in seeing Mrs. Hampton with Christina on her hip. “Was she fussing?”

  “No, I just thought she’d like to visit at Daliah’s house. I’m sure she’s tired of being in the stuffy kitchen all day.” Olive winked at Ruth turning to head out the door.

  “I didn’t burn anything,” Ruth said handing the spoon back to Rosa whose eyes were still red rimmed from crying.

  “You are doing very well,” the other woman said grudgingly making Ruth smile.

  “Now if I can just figure out what to do about laundry.” Ruth’s thoughts drifted from her lips.

  Chapter 15

  “Did you have a nice day?” Darwin asked as they walked home after dinner at the Hampton House. He was glad his wife wasn’t straying far from home, and the longer he was with her the more he liked her.

  Each day he made a point of meeting her for lunch and again for supper then walking home together. With the weather warm and fine, he would sometimes carry the hard bench to the front porch, and they would sit there watching the stars come out.

  Darwin had been careful not to push her about her past wondering if perhaps she had lost her parents during the war and now needed a home and a safe place to live. Perhaps the sorrows of the past were too much to share, yet in time as she grew to trust him, she would tell him about her life in Philadelphia.

  “Monday we’re doing laundry,” Ruth said looking down at the tiny burn on her hand. She had been helping Rosa fry chicken for supper and the fat had jumped up biting her delicate skin.

  “Here, I have something that will help with that.” Darwin jumped to his feet and hurried around the corner of the house returning with a heavy earthen jar. Opening the lid he ran his hand through the thick creamy mixture inside then reached for Ruth’s hands.

  His hands, hard and calloused could be so gentle and loving when he touched her, and she sighed with delight as the cold sticky substance, he rubbed onto the burns, soothed them immediately.

  “Better?”

  “Much better,” Ruth nodded looking up into his eyes with relief.

  “You know you don’t need to work at the Hampton House.” Her husband’s eyes were warm, inviting. “You can stay home and do whatever you’d like.”

  Ruth dropped her gaze. She should tell him the truth. Tell him that she wasn’t working for Olive and Orville, though she was quickly coming to adore them, but that she was actually working to learn how to be a good wife to him.

  “I like it,” she said laying her hands in her lap. “I’m getting to know all of the Hampton’s and Rosa is an amazing cook. She’s letting me write down some of her special recipes.” Ruth felt her cheeks flush at the half truth but couldn’t bring herself to admit she was as useless as her mother always said she was.

  “Well don’t over-do it,” Darwin grinned reaching out and pulling her hand into his as a cool breeze raced between the buildin
gs. “I don’t want my wife too tired each night when she comes home.”

  Ruth blushed brightly, thankful that the darkness hid her red face from Darwin. At least one aspect of their marriage seemed to leave neither of them lacking. For a moment she wondered if she were falling in love with Darwin over the simple aspects of their life. Eating meals together, keeping house, and sleeping snuggled close each night.

  “Where did you grow up?” Ruth asked surprising herself with the question. She hadn’t intended to ask him anything too personal until she was ready to share her past life as well, but the words tumbled out, and she realized she wanted to know this man better.

  “North Carolina, at least for a while.” Darwin shifted on the hard bench as the breeze freshened again.

  “Only a while?” Ruth asked. Darwin nodded. Ruth could just see his silhouette in the dark and waited for him to speak.

  “My ma died and after that I just packed up and left. There wasn’t anything there for me, so I took our old buggy horse and headed out.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Twelve.”

  Darwin’s words were so flat that Ruth wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. “What?” she whispered afraid she had understood.

  “Twelve.” The word came again and something inside her chest twisted. How had a twelve-year-old boy managed to make it in this wide world with no one to care for him? She reached out taking his hand once more thinking.

  “Didn’t you have any kin you could go to?” Ruth didn’t know where the questions were coming from, but now that she had started, they didn’t seem to have an end.

  “My father’s sister and my mother’s brother both came to the house when Ma died, but they didn’t want me. They tried to pretend they did, but I could hear them late at night arguing over who I would live with. I packed up what little I had, took my father’s pistol and rifle and went my own way.”