by Angela Lain
Truth be told, Harley hadn’t.
“I can take them back to the hotel when we have eaten and you have spoken with Miss Jacobs, when you have made her acquaintance.”
“Hmmp.” Jasper was unimpressed. He glanced past his brother’s head. “Maybe you had best take a look out the window. It’s been threatening all day, now it’s arrived, properly.”
Harley turned and looked towards the now dark window, the snow was falling in a thick curtain just beyond the glass.
“It might not be that bad,” he ventured.
“Don’t you believe it. It’s not fit for man nor beast. Even you can’t consider taking a couple of women out in that. Like ‘em or not, they are stuck here for the night, and possibly for the next few days if it doesn’t let up overnight.”
Harley gave a snort of irritation. Jasper was probably right, snow in this part of Wyoming could be sudden and troublesome. He hadn’t even considered the possibilities when he had set out from town a mere hour since.
“They will have to share my room, I will sleep out here by the fire.”
Jasper gave a huff of irritation. “No doubt they will eat all our food supplies too.”
Harley glanced over at April, who was industriously placing a tray of biscuits into the oven. “Maybe they can use some of the supplies to actually cook us a proper meal or two? I know I would surely appreciate it, and it’s time young Cody got introduced to proper food, instead of milk and oatmeal!”
“I do try,” Jasper groused.
“I know, but this is why you need a woman!”
Melody stepped from the bedroom with Cody in her arms.
“Can I put him down, or is the floor too dirty?”
“He… I…” Jasper gave an embarrassed shrug. “I’ve not had chance to clean. Set him on the rag rug.”
Melody sat the boy down, immediately he crawled off and she had to intercept him. “I don’t think that will work.”
“Maybe not, but he’s gotta learn sometime, hasn’t he?”
Melody threw him an exasperated look. Harley decided he needed to take a hand. He stood and lifted the boy from her arms.
“Give him to me, I will tell him a story.”
“You know stories fit for his ears?” Melody questioned in a disbelieving fashion.
“I was a lad once, I just tell him what my Pa told me. You set down in that other chair and talk with Jasper for a while. I will organize the coffee.”
“No need,” April interrupted. She stepped forward with cups for each of them. “Milk and sugar on the table since I don’t know what you need.”
Jasper thanked her gruffly, and turned his eyes to Melody. Harley moved away to allow them a bit of privacy, they were eyeing each other in a curious fashion. Maybe this would turn out right?
***
While April appreciated what Harley was trying to do, it didn’t make this right. She could understand his problem, his desperation even. Jasper was not coping, the boy was not getting the attention he needed. True he looked neither upset nor neglected, but at his age things could change very quickly. The boy was crawling, soon he would walk, then he would be liable to get into all sorts of trouble if he was not watched continuously. She couldn’t claim to be any expert in child care, but she’d seen mothers run ragged by their offspring, and those mothers were only trying to run a home, not a ranch as well.
Harley was right, they needed female assistance. But was this the way to do it?
“How does Jasper manage to do any of the ranch work with Cody around?”
“That is exactly the problem. When the baby was younger he slept more, and Jasper could get out for a bit, but now he can’t leave him.”
“He left him? Alone?”
“Not for long, just to organize the two lads who work for him. Now he has trouble even doing that, he has to wrap him up and take him out in the buggy.”
“But he should never have left him alone!” April was aghast at the very idea. These men truly had no idea. Harley was right that they needed help.
“What harm did it do while he was sleeping?”
“But he could wake, and be alone, and no-one would come. Things like that have a dreadful effect on a child.”
“And you know this, how?” Harley’s tone was surly.
April turned back to the cooking. He was making her angry. No, not angry, furious. But this was hardly the time or the place to lose her temper with him. If she tried to censure him, and he argued, which he would because he was that sort of man, she would surely lose her temper!
As she took that temper out on the bacon she was slicing, she did concede that he had tried to change things. Maybe he had gone the wrong way about it, but he had tried.
“Is Cody eating the same food as you?”
“What? Of course not, he has oatmeal, and milk and bread, if we have any. I bring that from town most days.”
“And today?”
“I forgot. I was too busy.”
April returned to her cooking with a disgusted huff.
She glanced across at Melody and Jasper, they seemed to be talking and not arguing. There was no ominous silence.
She couldn’t help but compare the two men. It was obvious they were brothers, but Jasper was slightly shorter, and carried less heft than his brother. He had the same dark curls, but his face was thinner and his cheek bones less pronounced. April guessed he was the elder, certainly he was the more careworn of the pair.
A short while later she removed the biscuits from the oven. There was plenty of fresh butter, and she had cooked a mountain of bacon and two eggs apiece. The plates were full, and she could see the two men gazing in anticipation at the table.
“I think we can eat.”
Harley put Cody into his high chair, and immediately he began to protest. But April was ahead of him. She placed a tin plate with slivers of bacon and fingers of biscuit spread with butter on the tray before him. He grabbed and stuffed the biscuit in his mouth. It would be messy, but the boy had to eat, and by the sound of things, oatmeal was his usual fare.
They ate quickly, all were hungry, so there was little conversation.
As April devoured her much needed supper she turned over in her mind what she wanted to ask, what needed to be explained, here and now.
Harley sat back from his food and drank his coffee, and April saw the opening she needed.
“We need to talk, all of us. Melody and I need to know the true situation here. For a start, why are you not running this ranch? Why is Jasper trying to do it with a child to care for?”
Harley choked on his coffee.
“It’s not my ranch.”
“That is not the point!”
“I help out as much as I can,” he protested indignantly. “I have my own business to run. If I abandon it, someone else will move in to do it. I can’t afford that. I can’t lose the forge.”
“Forge?” Melody questioned.
“I am the blacksmith. I own the town forge, and the small house with it. That is my home, but I am here every night now. And I am here all hours I can get away from the forge. You cannot accuse me of not helping. I…”
“I would never have managed at all without Harley,” Jasper stated flatly. “Some of the town biddies wanted to take Cody away and put him with another family when Cora-May died, but we didn’t want that. He is my son, he should be here.”
April looked from one to the other, the brothers both had that obstinate set to their jaw. Talking either in or out of anything would not be simple.
The town blacksmith? That explained the muscles, and April could understand that he wished to retain his own livelihood, but at what cost?
Cody was chortling and mashing what remained on his plate into a mess. He tipped the whole lot onto the floor, only then did April see the dog which had been curled in the corner on the far side of the fire. The obliging animal trotted over to clear up the floor.
Melody was the one who broke the silence which had fallen between the adults.
&n
bsp; “So we had better see if we can make this work, for Cody’s sake.”
“And now we had better get Cody to bed, and see about sleeping arrangements for tonight.” Jasper seemed to wish to conclude this discussion.
April frowned at him, the subject would have to be addressed further, but maybe it was just between him and Melody. She wondered what he meant by those last words.
“I suppose we had better get back to town and find a hotel for the night, we can talk more tomorrow.”
“You won’t get back to town tonight,” Jasper nodded to the window. “The snow is too bad.”
“But we can’t stay here!” Melody squeaked.
“I’m afraid there is no choice,” Harley backed up his brother’s words.
April jumped up look out of the window. The light behind her made it hard to see any more than blowing snow.
“It cannot be that bad. We have to return.”
“And I say it is not safe. We could get stuck, turn the buggy over, even get lost. We could die out there tonight.”
“That’s ridiculous!” April snapped. She marched through to porch and opened the outside door, she was greeted by a howling wall of snow. Harley jumped up and pushed the door shut. She scowled at him.
“Why did you bring us out here when the weather was set to get so bad? Was this deliberate? You are trying to compromise Miss Jacobs so she has to marry your brother? Shame on you! Shame on you both!”
“I never knew she was coming here!” Jasper retorted.
“And I didn’t realize… I never thought… “
“Exactly!” April was seething once again. “Show us where we will sleep, and tomorrow you will return us to the town. You will make certain that everyone knows this was your fault and that Miss Jacobs does not suffer for it!”
“Sure!” Harley’s tone was far from contrite.
“Err, maybe we should just go to sleep?” Melody suggested tentatively.
“A good idea!” Harley stamped through the second door and returned with a bedroll which he threw in front of the fire. “There you are ladies, my room is yours for the night, sleep well. I’m going to check the horses!”
He stamped out of the door and slammed it behind him. Two minutes later the door reopened and he dumped their luggage into the porch, the door closed again with a bang. He hadn’t return before the women had retired to share the room he had vacated.
Melody sat on the bed, she was understandably concerned.
“Will we both be compromised? Will I have any choice but to marry Jasper or leave town?”
“If you don’t want to marry Jasper, why would you consider staying here?”
Melody spread her hands helplessly.
“Don’t worry, Mel. If you decide this is not for you, we will move on, together. We can survive this. Be strong.”
They doused the lamp and went to bed, glad of the warm place to rest, but apprehensive about what lay ahead.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next morning April was awakened by Melody leaving the bed. To her amazement she had slept like a log, she didn’t recall waking at all during the hours of darkness. Now a sort of dingy daylight crept through the window, last night they had not closed the curtains.
Melody was dressing hastily.
“What…” April began. Then she heard it, the sound of a child, he wasn’t exactly crying, but he was shouting for attention.
“I must go to him.”
“What about his father, surely…?”
“I suspect he may already be up and outside, and he’s left the child to sleep. This is why I am here. I need to go to him, to show I can do this job. Anyhow, I don’t want him to get upset.”
“Melody, this wasn’t supposed to be a job.”
“No, but if you think about it, tending her children is a mother’s job, isn’t it?”
With that she was out of the door. Seconds later she heard her speaking to Cody, and the boy’s shouts ceased. Melody was right, and she was also good for the boy, and already dedicated to the task of caring for him. Would it be enough for her? Would Jasper accept her as a wife? Could he accept her? Was he ready and able to let go of the past? When she had set out for Feather Hill, she had decided to forego any idea of love, but faced with the choice it seemed not everyone could look at things dispassionately. It seemed both Melody and Jasper were looking for more than a loveless union.
April dressed quickly and slipped out of the room into the large kitchen. There was no-one present. Presumably breakfast needed to be made, assuming there was any food left for breakfast after what she had used last night.
She took the pan from the shelf and prepared to make biscuits, whatever else was available, they would fill a body up. She stoked the fire and set the biscuits to bake. Then she headed outside to the outhouse via the room they had referred to as the wash house. A tin bath hung on the wall, alongside a large copper with a small burner beneath it. Presumably this was where both people and clothes were washed.
She stepped out of the rear door, and was appalled to find how deep the snow lay around the house. The path to the outhouse had been shoveled clear of snow, but it was already filling again as flakes continued to drift from the slate-grey sky.
She used the outhouse, and returned through the wash room. As she went to open the door into the main room she heard voices. Both men were now in the kitchen area.
“Jasper, you have to listen to me.”
April paused; she would listen as well, and get some idea of how Harley saw this playing out.
“Don’t be a fool, man. Take what is offered. I got her here to make a family for you. She is a nice girl, she will love the baby, she will do her duty by you if you marry her, maybe even give you another child. What does it matter how you feel about her? You can still dream of Cora-May if that makes you feel noble. But for goodness sake, see sense and take what is offered.”
April listened in rising indignation. That was callous, both for Jasper and Melody, but mostly for Melody!
Jasper seemed to agree. “That’s unkind, Harley. I don’t feel right about it. It seems like taking advantage.”
“It’s what a mail-order bride expects. They answer the advertisements for a home and a family, love is a poor second. Be realistic, brother, can a woman really answer an advertisement and expect romance?”
“I suppose.” Jasper gave a sigh. “I will see how it goes for a day or two. They will have to stay, no way we can get to town today, maybe not tomorrow either.”
“No way either of the lads will get out here to work today, either. It’s all on us, good thing the women are here to tend to Cody. I had best go and see if I can shoot some game. I’ll come back for some coffee, and hopefully breakfast in a few minutes, I’ll saddle the horse first. Pity I can’t shoot bacon, hey?” Harley laughed and the door banged, obviously he had gone out of the other door.
April took a breath and re-entered the kitchen. Jasper was staring from the window. He swung round as the door opened.
“Oh, it’s you. I thought it might be Melody. Where is Cody?”
“I presume Melody is seeing to his diaper.” April returned shortly. She moved to the stove to heat some milk for the baby, he would surely want it very soon.
“Is there oatmeal enough for us all, not just the baby?” she asked.
“Oatmeal?”
“For breakfast, since I have no idea what else you have to eat, how much there is of anything, or where you store it,” April retorted.
“Oh, yes. I see. The food is in those cupboards, but… there’s not a lot. There are vegetables in the cellar, and some dried meat.”
“That will help.”
“Umm… can Melody cook?”
“I don’t imagine she would have answered an advertisement to be a wife and mother and keep house, if she could not.” April had no idea, but as an answer it sounded reasonable.
Jasper gave her a weak smile. “Maybe I should…”
At that second Melody came in to th
e room carrying Cody.
“I think Cody would like some breakfast.”
The outer door opened and Harley marched in stamping snow off his boots. Without even thinking about it April turned and scolded him. “Can’t you do that outside? You don’t need to track all the wet in here.”
Harley stared at her for a second. “Excuse me! Is breakfast ready? Do I smell biscuits?”
“You do, but all you’ll get is biscuits and oatmeal, since I haven’t any idea where you hide anything else. If there are eggs to collect, I suggest you need to do it!”
“I doubt the chickens are laying much in this snow,” Jasper remarked glumly.
“Then you need to get supplies. I can’t feed you if there is nothing to cook! Besides which, why am I actually cooking for you ungrateful pair? If you were going to kidnap us, and keep us prisoner here, you might at least have got prepared.”
“You haven’t been kidnapped,” Harley snapped.
“This is not my doing!” Jasper yelped at the same second.
“Whatever,” April returned crossly. “You should at least have enough food in the house to feed Cody properly.”
“Yes,” Melody chimed in. “The poor baby is hungry. If I hadn’t been here he would still be crying in his bed. It’s not good enough!”
April handed her a cup of milk, and she sat with Cody on her knee and helped him to drink. Both men looked on in the rather strained silence.
“Sit,” April ordered, plonking the steaming coffee cups onto the table.
The men did as requested.
“Thank you,” Jasper offered, “For everything you have done so far, and for the breakfast. Oatmeal and biscuits will be enough.”
Harley merely grunted what might have been thanks.
“Are we going back to town this morning, or after we have got acquainted for a while?” Melody questioned as April spooned oatmeal into bowls. “I have no idea actually how to get acquainted. We can’t exactly go walking, or visit the theatre together, or things like that, can we?”
“We can’t do much beyond sit and talk today,” Jasper offered apologetically. “Harley and I will have to go out and check the animals, but you ladies had better stay here and entertain Cody.”
