The Brides of Chance Collection Part 9

Chapter 12.

Everything's changing," Miriam murmured to herself with delight. Over the last few weeks, she'd settled into her new cottage, tacked up cheery yellow feed sacks as curtains, and braided a small rug to go by her bed.

She'd taken shameless advantage of the big move. When Paul and t.i.tus moved into the loft cabin, she washed their tickings and had the men stuff them with fresh hay. Gideon now occupied the middle cabin. He'd seen to his own bedding, and instead of leaving his doors open all day long as did his brothers, he kept his shut. Logan and Bryce now shared the big bedroom in the main house. Miriam suspected Bryce smuggled one or more of the dogs in there each night, but she said nothing.

As soon as she'd arrived, she'd expanded the garden. Polly loved to "help," and Ginny Mae relished crawling in the dirt. The biggest challenge was keeping her from eating bugs, worms, and rocks. Polly wore pantalets and simple smocks made from feed sacks instead of hand-me-down s.h.i.+rts. Sweetest of all, she now said prayers.

"Breakfast about ready?" Paul called to her as she stepped out onto the porch. He'd been heading toward the chicken house.

"I need the eggs!"

"Come help."

She lifted her skirts a bit and skipped across the yard. Back home, there was more sand than dirt, and it took considerable effort to get anywhere. Here, the packed earth made for ease of travel. These men had no concept how fortunate they were to live without the ever-present irritation of sand. Grit from the beach got into every nook and cranny. Dust could be wiped clean; sand never departed.

Paul slid a bolt free and looked down at her. "Might want to stand back a shade. The hens can be pecky after being shut in all night." He swung two six-foot-high doors open, revealing dozens of boxes full of nesting hens.

"This is like a kitchen cupboard!"

"Yup." Gideon rested his hands on her shoulders. Miriam had heard him coming. She knew the a.s.sured sound of his no-nonsense stride. She fought the urge to lean back into his strength as he explained, "Mama designed it. None of us liked stooping to fit into the crowded, dirty coop. Paul, Speck is off her feed. Bryce is having a look at her."

Paul hastened toward the stable. Miriam started gathering eggs, and Gideon reached the nests that were up high. Quickly they filled the basket. "I didn't mean to have him strand you with his ch.o.r.e."

"I kept chickens on the islands. I don't mind."

"You already do plenty around here."

Miriam slipped her hand beneath a pullet and admitted, "Life here isn't easy, but it's good. You men work hard."

He snorted. "We get filthy and eat like ravenous beasts. I still don't understand why you'd choose to live here and deal with us."

Miriam hitched her right shoulder. "It seems to me, no matter where they live, men lose b.u.t.tons, tear s.h.i.+rts, rip knees, and bleed. Back home, Mama told me a woman's mending basket and laundry are bottomless. I'm not complaining."

"Miriam!" Logan called from the house. "Todd Dorsey came to see about a horse trade. Mind if he stays to breakfast?"

Neighbors stopped by with astonis.h.i.+ng frequency-and always at mealtime. Gideon never seemed very pleased about those social calls. He bristled. "Yahoos and clods. Ever notice these mooches just so happen to turn up at mealtime?"

Miriam laughed. "I think it does them some good, seeing little Ginny Mae and Polly with all of you big, strapping Chance men. Plain as can be, those little girls need a woman's touch, and I'm the only woman around."

The muscle in his jaw twitched. "That's all they notice, Miriam-you being a woman." He stomped toward the house, and Miriam mentally dismissed Todd from the breakfast table. No one ever managed to get something past Gideon. Except me. I'm the exception that proves the rule, because I'm staying here.

Gideon. Once he'd accepted that she was here to stay, he'd stopped acting as if he'd been invited to his own execution. Responsibility rested heavily on his shoulders, and he took it seriously. But she wanted to be sure Gideon understood she wasn't another responsibility-she was...What am I?

Helpmeet was the first word that came to mind, but that was all wrong. It meant she was his wedded wife. She wasn't a partner. Neither was she a maidservant nor a relative. Miriam resolved not to label what she was but instead to concentrate on how she would lighten his load and ensure her nieces' ultimate welfare.

Led by Gideon's example, most of the other Chance brothers embraced her presence with ease. Some days, it seemed as if she'd been here forever.

Miriam carried the egg basket into the house. Daniel sat on the floor, struggling with a knot in the lace of his boot. Miriam set down the egg basket and handed him a fork. "Try this. The tine can help you tease it loose."

He nodded and kept his head bowed over the stubborn tangle.

Daniel seemed to be changing, too-but slowly. Instead of being surly or belligerent most of the time, he now stayed silent. Miriam removed a stove lid and shoved in another log as she mentally gave Hannah's husband credit for the love he gave his children. He cherished both daughters to distraction and showed them great tenderness. Because their welfare was his first concern, he'd grudgingly accepted the fact that Miriam would now play a role in their upbringing.

"Oh!" Miriam jerked away from the stove and started beating at the flames on her left sleeve.

"Here." Whoosh. Something wrapped around her, and Gideon was part of it. He held her in tight confines and rubbed her arm. "I've got it. You're okay. t.i.tus, get the water pitcher."

Miriam rested against Gideon's chest and stared off to the side. Plates, mugs, and silverware dappled the just-swept floor. But I set the table.

"Quick thinking," t.i.tus said as he hastened up with the water pitcher from the washstand.

"Here. Let me take a look." Gideon stopped rubbing and tried to twist her.

Miriam couldn't help herself. She burrowed closer.

"It's all right, sweet pea."

"Of course it is," she said. "I'm just cold."

"How can you be cold?" Logan slanted her an odd look. "You were on fire."

While Logan reminded her of that dreadful fact, Gideon managed to tug on her. Miriam wiggled, then looked down. "That's our only tablecloth! It better not-"

"Hush." Gideon finished unwinding her and proceeded to yank what was left of her sleeve clean off her dress. "Pour the water on her."

"At least let me put my arm over the sink."

Gideon made an impatient sound and glowered at t.i.tus. t.i.tus immediately emptied the entire gallon of water over her arm. As the last few ounces slid over her, Gideon ordered, "Now let me see how you look."

"It's just a little burn."

He looked at her arm and carefully turned her hand so he could see more of her forearm. Miriam reached over to cover the center of the sizable pink splotch with her other hand, but Gideon smoothly manacled that wrist and turned his attention toward her injured palm. "We'll wait to see if you blister. Hopefully we caught it before the heat went that deep."

"Truly it's nothing much. My dress took the brunt of it."

"Not much of a loss, if you ask me." Logan picked up the charred remains of the sleeve. "I don't mean you any insult, but that dress is ugly as a mud-stuck fence."

"It was serviceable." Serviceable-a word she'd learned in her youth.

"Came out of a missionary barrel, didn't it?" Gideon's voice carried a healthy dose of disgust.

"Well, I-how did you know about missionary barrels?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Miriam regretted asking. "My arm's fine. You men must be starving."

"You sit down. We'll keep a cold compress on your arm. Dan, scramble some eggs. Logan, pick up the dishes."

Miriam watched in dismay as Logan took the plates and shoved them back onto the table. "I need to wash those!"

He used his sleeve to wipe away a speck. "No need. You just swept this morning. Fact is, afore you came, lots of the time, we didn't wash the dishes."

Gideon hovered during breakfast, changing the cool compress on her arm and b.u.t.tering her bread. "I'm taking Miriam into town."

"I need to change."

"No, you're not." Gideon made the p.r.o.nouncement as if it were chiseled in stone.

"I can't very well saunter about in polite company in a shredded gown!"

"Town isn't polite company."

Fifteen minutes later, Gideon tucked the shawl around her shoulders as the buckboard jounced toward town. "Listen here, Miriam. You're not a missionary's daughter anymore."

"Of course I am. Just because Daddy and Mama are overseas doesn't change the fact-"

"You're Ginny Mae and Polly's aunt. Ugly day gowns like this don't teach them to be ladies. Part of the reason you're here is to teach them the feminine side of things, and you're traipsing around like a penniless waif in a servant's castoffs."

She smoothed her brown skirts. "Serge is durable and-"

"Homely as mud. Tell me, why did Hannah show up with feminine colors? I remember her dresses being pink, and they had doodads."

Miriam smiled. "The rose-colored fabric came in a barrel. I made that as her honeymoon dress. Papa couldn't very well insist that her gowns be somber when she was celebrating her marriage."

"Well, we're getting you material in town. You're gonna sew yourself a fancy pink dress."

"Gideon, I can't. I promised I'd make myself look different from my sister."

"Dan can go fly a kite. You already pile your hair up on your head so you don't wear a bun at your nape like Hannah did. Besides, your hair's warm like the sun, and hers was pale. I don't want you thinking I'm being too personal or being harsh, but Hannah-well, she had two babes in three years. Betwixt them, she never did trim down. Dan must've been sun-blinded when he first mistook you for your sis. It's high time you stopped trying to waltz on eggsh.e.l.ls to please him and did what you want to make yourself happy."

Miriam smiled at him. "But Gideon, I am happy."

"No, you're not. You're just accustomed to being content with settling for sc.r.a.ps."

Sunday arrived. Men came and sang hymns as best they could remember, though the lyrics took on more creativity than Miriam had imagined possible. t.i.tus scrounged up a guitar Miriam hadn't yet seen and proved to be quite talented. Gideon read from the Bible about letting your light s.h.i.+ne, and Chris Roland stood up and spoke from his heart about living a "G.o.d-fearin', devil-forsakin' life." Paul rose to say a closing prayer, and Rusty hollered, "Tack on thanks for the grub. We're hungry and want to belly up to the table straightaway."

Miriam didn't look, but she suspected Gideon fought to keep from chuckling. As soon as Paul finished the prayer, she hastened into the kitchen. Gideon hadn't let her near the stove to cook anything earlier this morning. She'd prepared each pot on the table. Then a Chance brother had transferred it to the stove. Now Gideon carried every last pot back to the table.

Soon she was dis.h.i.+ng up meals and handing a filled plate to each man as he walked in from the back door and left through the front. Succotash, rice, roast, and gravy. The banker, Pete Rovel, came through for thirds.

"That Sunday supper did it," Logan moaned five days later. Each and every meal, they had callers. The men avidly listened to the Bible stories Miriam told the girls. They seemed even more interested in what Miriam planned to put on the table.

By Friday, Gideon glowered at three visitors and sent them packing. When he turned to the table, his eyes narrowed. Miriam kept posies on the table all the time, but they were always wildflowers from a patch here or there around the property. Three yellow roses filled the jar today.

"Marv Wall brung them for Miriam," Bryce tattled.

Gideon looked at his brothers and drummed his fingers on the table. "Miriam, you need to put the girls to bed tonight."

She gave him a baffled look. Daniel insisted on tucking his daughters into bed each night. What is Gideon up to?

"We've got to do something. I don't want these men to keep calling on Miriam." Gideon paced in the barn.

Logan beat the heels of his scuffed boots on the bale of hay he sat upon. "She's workin' herself silly, cookin' for them."

"She's cooking anyway," Paul pointed out. "To my mind, it's more a matter that we can't afford to feed all of Reliable."

"Rusty had her writing a letter for him yesterday, and Dorsey talked her into mending his stinkin' socks," Gideon rasped. "She's not their wife. They have no call, counting on her to do those things."

"She does it for us," t.i.tus said quietly.

"I can write my own letters!" Bryce objected. He then muttered, "Just don't have a body to mail stuff to."

"I told you letting her stay here was a mistake." Daniel glowered at them all. "You didn't listen. Now you have a peck of trouble, and I want no part of it." He turned and walked out of the barn. The door shut with great finality.

"If that don't beat all." Logan scowled. "Betcha he's going straight back into his cottage and sending Miriam scurrying away."

"The last thing she needs to know is that we're talking about her." Hay s.h.i.+fted and whispered under Gideon's boots as he continued to restlessly measure the length of the barn. "Roses. Marv had to go clear into San Francisco to bring those to her. It's serious."

"I told you, you ought to marry up with her, Giddy." Bryce folded his arms across his chest. "Seems that one of the Chance men ought to."

"Dan's excluded," Paul said at once. "He's hurting too bad, and it's not fair to Miriam."

"And," t.i.tus continued in the same vein, "we have to rule out Logan and Bryce because they're just plain too young. That leaves you, me, and Gideon."

"I reckon it's necessary." Paul cracked his knuckles. "Not my first choice, but definitely doable. I'm willing to draw straws for her."

t.i.tus started to chuckle as he took three strands of straw and handed them to Logan. "Seems pretty hilarious to me. After all, our name is Chance. I've got a one-in-three chance of snagging a bride-and a pretty one at that-without having to fuss with getting all duded up and making a fool of myself, going courting."

Gideon gritted his teeth as Logan lined up the straws and broke one far shorter than the others with a flourish. Anger coursed through him that his brothers would concoct such a "solution" to this problem. "You're all out of line."

Logan shrugged. "You're the one who always tells us to think things through. Someone's gotta marry up with her. Why not one of us?"

"Because she's family, not a brood mare." Gideon stared at them. "You don't treat a woman like this!"

"Nothing much is changing. She's already willing to stay and work," Logan reasoned. "And we all like her just fine-well, all of us but Daniel."

"Daniel doesn't like anybody," Bryce tacked on.

"If anything, we're truly making her family instead of a free maid." Paul nodded at Logan. "Let's get on with it."

Logan positioned the straws in his fist and held them aloft. "Who's first?"

Gideon swiped all three straws from his brother's hand, cast them down, and ground them beneath his boot. "I won't have it. No one's drawing straws for Miriam's hand. A woman deserves to be courted and cared about."

t.i.tus leaned back against a post and shoved his hands into his pockets. A lazy smile tilted his face. "So...you volunteering, Gideon?"