by Angela Lain
“Or for Christmas.”
April glanced at her friend; that too was true, it was less than two weeks until Christmas. Would the men celebrate? Were they devout, church going men? She thought not, no grace had been offered at any meal, thus far. It wasn’t something which offended her greatly, her father had ceased to believe in the Lord after her mother had died. That didn’t mean she agreed with him, but it meant she accepted that just because someone didn’t have a strong faith, didn’t mean they were bad people.
However, given the opportunity, she would like to attend church, particularly at Christmas.
***
It was mid-morning before Jasper came back into the house, he was grinning widely.
“Just you come and look at what Harley has done!”
Melody picked up Cody, and the women moved to the door. There outside sat a grinning Harley, with two horses hitched to a buggy, which now sported runners. He had converted it to a sleigh.
“Oh, Harley! How wonderful,” Melody gasped.
“One of the benefits of being a blacksmith,” Harley returned.
“So we can go to town? All of us?” April questioned. The whole idea was quite exciting. Sleigh rides had meant Christmas, and fun, when she had been a child.
“We can. Room for all, and we can stock up the supplies. Get your coats, girls. We could do with cushions and blankets too, it will get chilly, and it may start to snow again.”
“If we are going back to town, I should take my luggage,” April pointed out, “Maybe Melody should too.”
“No,” Melody declared firmly. “I need to look after Cody.”
“But…”
“If people talk, that is the way it is. If Jasper and I marry, they will soon forget about it. If we do not, I will no longer be here. I will stay at the ranch to look after Cody.”
***
Ten minutes later they were all in the sleigh, along with April’s luggage, and heading for the town. As they trotted along the trail the sun came out, making the snow sparkle. April was relieved to be returning to town, but the drive was a treat.
“Will you be able to advise me where I can stay in town?” she questioned.
“There is a nice boarding house run by Mrs. Stimpson. I’m sure she will have somewhere you can stay,” Harley said.
“Could I ask that you escort me there? I believe I need to impress upon people in the town that nothing untoward has happened. I need you to confirm that my staying at the ranch was unavoidable.”
Harley cast her a doubtful look. “I have work to do. I have been away for two whole days, people rely on me.”
“But I can’t just roll up at the boarding house.”
“Why not?”
April stared at him in disbelief, was he really so unaware of how this looked? Of how a girl could be reviled, ruined, by something as simple as this snow fall?
“Harley, people will think I am a loose woman. I stayed two nights with an unmarried man.”
“So did Melody.”
“Yes, but…” April glanced at their companions. They were wrapped up in entertaining Cody, and each other. “There is a fair chance they will marry, they are supposed to marry, and then this will all go away for them. For me that is not the case.”
“You will stay in town? You are not moving on?”
“I haven’t decided. I might have little choice. If there is enough trouble, I may be driven out.”
“This is a nice town!” Harley declared. “All right, I will take you to the boarding house, but we must be quick. I am sure when I ride into town I will be expected to open the forge immediately.”
“I won’t hold you up,” April declared through clenched teeth.
***
A short while later Harley and April descended the steps from the boarding house.
“I find it very hard to believe that she didn’t have any rooms available,” Harley growled.
“I did try to warn you,” April muttered. “What am I going to do?”
“We will join the others at the mercantile, and then we will go back to the ranch. If people can act that way I will be damned if I put myself out for them!” Harley declared with an angry snort.
“Harley, you can’t be like that. You need these people to accept you.”
“Why? What makes them think I am the sort of man who takes advantage of a girl just because she has to stay the night where I am sleeping? It is insulting to me as well as you, isn’t it?”
Looked at from that angle, he was right, but people didn’t think that way. She would be the one to suffer.
“That is true, but I will be the one labelled a scarlet woman, a whore who led you on by being where she should not have been. That’s the way it is. Can you think of anywhere else I could stay? Does the saloon hire rooms?”
“You are not staying there!” Harley stated flatly. “I have an idea, come back to the forge.” He handed her into the sleigh.
April glanced around, as expected the sleigh was getting attention, but she was well aware that people were talking behind their hands too.
Instead of pulling up at the forge, Harley detoured along the fence line to the cabin at the end of the paddock.
“Where…?” April began.
“I think this is the answer,” Harley grinned at her. “Should have thought before, you can stay with Ada.”
“Ada?”
“Mrs. Ada Smith. The woman who has been my rock since I left my family, she and Jesse Smith were my new family. This will be my house, along with the forge, when Ada finally leaves us. She has a helper, who stays some nights, but she will have room for you.”
“Oh.” April wasn’t quite sure how to take this. He was lodging her with his adopted family? Possibly he had no other choice, but it seemed a little… personal. Could he possibly be starting to like her, just a little? If she was honest, she did rather like him, he was the first man who had made her heart beat faster when he spoke to her. Of course, he also had the ability to incite her anger at the drop of a hat, she wasn’t certain which trait was the stronger.
***
Harley helped her down from the sleigh. He could only hope Ada was agreeable with this idea. If not, April would have to return to the ranch.
He knocked, and let himself in with a shout to his much-loved guardian.
Ada was seated in front of the fire, in a position where she could keep an eye on the main street, distant though it was.
“Hah, good to see you, boy. It’s about time you came to see your old Ada. Now what is all this fuss and talk I’ve been hearing?” He pushed April forward and Ada regarded her with a small frown.
“Ada, this is Miss April Cousins. She came to town with Miss Melody Jacobs, the girl who is to be Jasper’s mail-order bride.”
“Mail-order bride? So he finally upped and did it? Good for him,” Ada declared with a large smile.
“Well, he didn’t, exactly. I did it for him, but that’s another story. I will tell you about that later. At the moment we have a problem. I took both ladies to the ranch to meet Jasper and Cody after they arrived on Tuesday. Then the storm came, and we couldn’t get back to town. So Miss Cousins and Miss Jacobs had to stay.”
“And they’ve both been there since Tuesday,” Ada finished. “I had heard talk. What did you come for, Miss Cousins? If Miss Jacobs came to meet Jasper, why are you here?”
“I came as a companion, it’s not safe for a girl alone.”
Ada nodded sagely. “It is not. But now you are the one alone. Did Mary Stimpson refuse to give you a room?”
“How did you guess?” Harley muttered ruefully.
“No more than I would expect. The girl can stay here. I have no reputation to worry on.”
Harley swooped to plant a kiss on her cheek. He had hoped she would offer, that he wouldn’t need to ask, and she had risen to the occasion.
“Thank you, Ada. That will be such a relief. I will transport her back and forth to the ranch each day, if she wants.” He loo
ked over at April. “I presume you will want to stay around until after the wedding?”
“I wish to stay until the decision is final. When they agree to marry, they won’t wait about, they will do it. I don’t want to go until I am sure Melody is settled and happy with her situation.”
“Good for you, girl. Young women should support each other. They shouldn’t try to bring each other down, which is what that Stimpson woman is doing. How is that any help to a girl? She’s so afraid of her own reputation that she would condemn another woman.” Ada gave a grunt of disgust.
“Thank you, Mrs. Smith. I am really grateful.”
“Ahh, get along with you. And less of the Mrs. Smith. Ada will do. Harley, show her the room. Hester hasn’t been staying lately, so she won’t need it.”
“Why hasn’t Hester stayed?” Harley was instantly worried. Hester was paid to keep an eye on Ada while he wasn’t around.
“Because her daughter is due a baby any day, and she’s not been too well. I’m fine, stop your worrying over me, Harley.”
Harley steered April to the second room.
“Will this do?”
“Of course it will.” She looked up at him. “This was your room?”
“It was, and it will be again, when Jasper is married and settled. When Cody has a mother. I won’t stay after that, I will come back here and look out for Ada.”
April nodded. “I will look out for her while you are not here.”
“Thank you, April. That would be very kind.”
***
April settled in to the room, and shared a cup of coffee with Harley and her new landlady, before he set off to collect Jasper and Melody from town. He arranged to pick her up the next morning and take her to the ranch for the day. April was glad he had offered because, although she did appreciate her friend needed to spend time with Jasper, she didn’t wish to abandon her before Melody was really ready.
That evening April prepared a simple meal for herself and Ada, and then sat and listened to Ada’s tales of the early years of this pioneer town. She and her husband Jesse had arrived here on a wagon train, the same year that they had married.
They had a happy life, but sadly were never blessed with children, which was why she had taken on Harley when he had needed the help.
“Ahh, he was a good lad. Willing and a strong back with it. Jesse was so pleased to pass his knowledge on to such a worthy successor.”
April felt Ada’s eyes on her as she announced, “Of course, what he needs now is a wife, so he can pass the knowledge, and the forge, on to his son.”
She didn’t react. What could she say? She and Harley spent a good deal of their time at daggers drawn.
“Well, girl? What are you thinking? Wouldn’t my Harley make a fine husband?”
“I am sure he would, Ada. But he needs to want a wife, and at this time I am not certain that he does.”
“Don’t you believe it. He will see sense. He got a mail-order bride for Jasper, it won’t be long before he starts to think of what he needs.” She eyed April knowingly. “Did you really come as a companion, or were you hoping to find more than one man in need of a wife?”
April felt her face colored at this question, it was true, and she could hardly deny it.
“I have heard many men consider mail-order brides, therefore many must be looking? I thought there was a chance, so I accompanied Melody.”
“And you would be right. There is always a chance.” Ada nodded her head sagely. April knew well she was meaning Harley.
They chatted for a while longer before April retired to bed. She sat for some time looking out of the window onto the snowy town. The sky was clear and the moon was full, it was a beautiful sight with the snowy trees and roof tops.
CHAPTER NINE
The next morning Harley arrived at the forge to find several people awaiting him with horses in need of shoes. It was hardly surprising, he had been unavailable for several days.
He excused himself and dashed across to the cabin to speak with April.
“Good morning. You are early, I’m not quite finished with the pots and pans for Ada,” April greeted him with a smile. “Would you like coffee?”
Harley glanced around, the place was clean and tidy, April was looking out for Ada exactly as she had said she would. He was sorry he now had to disappoint her.
“I’m sorry, April. I won’t be able to take you out to the ranch for at least a couple of hours, maybe longer.”
“Oh. Why is that?”
He waved his hand in the direction of the forge. “I have a queue. Obviously people heard we had got through to town, and assumed I would be back at work. I need to…”
“Of course you do. I will take a walk to the mercantile, I never got to look yesterday, there are a few things I need. I will come to the forge in an hour or two and see how you are getting along.”
“That would be best. See you in a while. Bye, Ada.” He ducked swiftly from the door and headed back to the forge. The faster he got on with this the better things would be.
***
April finished the washing up and headed out to walk into town. The snow here was deeper than in Parson’s Creek, the cold seeped into a body. Possibly she needed some new gloves, hers were getting thin.
She was aware of raising considerable interest during her short walk to the mercantile. When she stepped inside things didn’t improve. The woman behind the counter regarded her with steely disapproval.
“And you are?”
The words were beyond rude, April gritted her teeth not to react. It wasn’t as if she’d not coped with it before, back in Parson’s Creek she had become persona non grata as the town drunk’s daughter. She had hoped things would be different here, but the snow had damaged her plans, and her reputation.
“I am Miss April Cousins, I am staying with Mrs. Ada Smith.”
“Are you now? I hear that wasn’t where you spent the last few nights.”
“We were snowed in at the Kendrick’s ranch,” she returned shortly. “I would like to purchase some gloves please.”
The woman didn’t seem to think she needed to introduce herself, instead she sniffed and pointed in the direction of the clothing.
April lifted her chin and stepped to peruse the gloves.
“If you are with Mrs. Smith, where is your sister?”
“Miss Jacobs, who is my friend, is still at the Kendrick’s ranch, caring for Cody.”
“I see!”
Her tone told April that she did not see any further than the end of her rather pointed nose, nor did she wish to. She and Melody were instantly painted as ‘no good’. The sooner Jasper and Melody tied the knot, the better it would be for everyone.
April selected the gloves she wanted, paid her money and left the store with no further conversation. She couldn’t help but wonder what had been said when Jasper and Melody had been in the store only yesterday. She saw no point in visiting any other of the establishments, she walked back to the forge in a very thoughtful frame of mind.
She sat by the forge fire for over an hour while Harley finished shoeing horses. It didn’t worry her one bit, she was interested to watch him work, and the fire was warm. She even brewed coffee for them both while she waited.
“Done,” Harley declared, slapping the final horse on the quarters as the owner led him from the forge. “Sorry you had to wait so long.”
“I was not bothered. It was warmer here than anywhere in town.”
Harley flashed her a look, obviously realizing she was talking of more than the frigid weather.
“You met with disapproval?”
“You could say that. After the mercantile, where I spent money and still got a very icy welcome, I didn’t bother with anywhere else, there was no point. I don’t think I will be staying after Jasper and Melody marry.”
Harley merely grimaced at that comment. “I am sorry people were…”
“Unwelcoming would be the word. Not to worry, I am not a weepy, sensit
ive soul. I may not be happy about it, but it won’t damage me for life.”
Harley nodded and gave her a smile, she rather thought the look smacked of approval, and even pride at her strength of character.
They headed back to the ranch for April to spend the rest of the day with her friend. In truth, Melody no longer needed her help, but April felt she had to be there, even though it was a little late to worry about appearances. Either that, or she stayed with Ada, because she had no wish to expose herself to the towns folk again without some moral support.
***
“Oh, Cody. You are such a clever boy!”
April turned to see the little lad on his feet, clinging to the chair seat. Two seconds later he sat down with a bump. Melody hurried to him and swept him up in her arms.
“You are so clever. Can you do it again?”
April watched as she held his hands and helped him to balance. Melody already loved the boy, she might be reluctant to admit it, but if she had to leave here she would be miserable.
April was also pretty sure she’d detected a fondness for Jasper. Certainly Melody was a whole lot nicer to him that she was to Harley. In that instance she had to admit to being guilty too, she was generally short with Harley, but the man could be so… boorish.
Maybe that wasn’t the right word, but, despite the fact he was generally polite to her, she couldn’t help but feel he was carefully avoiding telling her what he really thought. She feared she was not seeing his true colors, for better or worse. He was unyielding because he thought that, had she not exerted influence on Melody, she and Jasper would already be married.
It wasn’t true, the stumbling block here was Jasper. Melody was ready to commit, Jasper still held back. The only reason April didn’t push Melody to encourage him further, was fear. She didn’t wish to see Melody hurt if Jasper should suddenly baulk and change his mind, because he felt he was being herded like one of his steers.
