Groom Wanted (8 page)

“I can hardly wait to meet Mr. Barrington, to be whisked away to a life full of style and beauty. What girl wouldn’t?” She couldn’t keep the contentment or the happiness that idea brought on from curling her lips upward. Her very own Mr. Darcy would be coming soon. She would finally get away from this place and the nightmares to live the lifestyle she dreamed of living once again. Nothing would stop her from returning to where she had always been meant to be.

Chapter Seven

T
hree days later, Jake stood next to Leah at the front door of Michael and Selina’s house. “Hi, Michael.”

“Hey, what are you two up to?”

“Jake wanted to see the babies, so I told him I’d come with him. I haven’t seen them for a while,” Leah said, bouncing at his side. Yes, he had mentioned it, but he didn’t think she’d drag him right over there right away like she had.

“That’s right. It’s been one whole day.” Mischievousness sparkled through Michael’s eyes. “And I’m sure this was all
Jake’s
idea.”

Jake chuckled.

Leah elbowed him in the side. “It’s not funny.”

He thought it was—in more ways than one.

“Don’t just stand there, y’all. Michael, let them in.” Selina’s voice came from somewhere behind Michael.

Michael moved out of the way and Jake and Leah stepped inside. Jake hung his hat on a long peg near the door, feeling a little sheepish and very much out of place. He’d never been to the house of brand-new parents before, and truth be told, the babies scared him a mite more than he wanted to admit.

His attention went to Selina sitting on the couch, her legs stretched out before her and covered with a blue lightweight blanket. Two wooden cradles sat on either side of the rocking chair near her. “Sure nice to see ya again, Jake. Can I get y’all some coffee or tea or somethin’ to eat?” Selina tossed her coverlet aside, but before she could even move her legs, Michael had sprung over to her and stood in the way of her moving.

“Don’t you dare move. I’ll get it,” Michael ordered. The way Michael acted made Jake chuckle again and Leah, too, though she covered her amusement better than he did.

“Why don’t you let me get us all something to drink?” Leah said from beside him.

“I can get it, Leah. I do know how to get refreshments.” But the look on Michael’s face said how much he’d appreciate her help.

“Oh, please. I’m surprised you managed to stay alive until Selina got here the way you cook. You two go sit down. I’ll get it.” Leah pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Michael. That threatening look would have made Jake obey.

Finally Michael shrugged. “Fine. I know better than to argue with you, sis. What would you like to drink, Jake?”

“Coffee, if you have some already made.”

“Just made a fresh pot. It’s there on the stove, Leah.”

“Of course it’s on the stove, Michael. Where else would it be, you silly goose?” She walked past him and tapped him on the arm.

“Watch it, or I’ll turn you over my knee.”

“You’d have to catch me first.” She wrinkled her nose up at him.

“Don’t tempt me.”

Jake loved watching the interaction between the two siblings. He didn’t have any family there to interact with. His sister and her husband lived in Oregon and so did his mother and her husband, Jed.

“When y’all get done horsin’ around, me and Jake here would like some coffee,” Selina piped in with her slow Southern drawl.

“You lucked out, sister dear. Selina just saved your hide from a good tanning.”

“Sure I did.” Leah glanced at the ceiling and shook her head, then headed to the kitchen stove. With her back to her brother, she asked, “You want coffee, too, Michael?”

“Yes,” Michael answered, then turned to Jake. “Shall we?”

They moved to the living room.

Michael sat in the rocking chair situated next to Selina and the babies.

Jake chose a spot on a chair across the way. Curious, he craned his neck, looking into each cradle to see the babies’ little sleeping faces. Lottie’s was round and Joseph’s was square. Joey’s hair was blond and Lottie’s was brown. “They sure are cute.”

Envy roped through him. Someday he hoped to have a wife and family, too. He glanced over at Leah, standing in front of the stove, looking every bit the part of the homemaker. If only she’d said yes to his proposal, she’d be at his place right now, making a home with him. He sighed. No sense wishing for something that would never be. She’d made it very clear she wasn’t interested in that kind of relationship with him. She’d also made clear the lifestyle she wanted to live and the type of man she wanted to live it with.
Pride and Prejudice
popped into his mind. She said that Mr. Darcy fellow was the kind of man she wanted. He really had to read the thing to find out what sort of man did interest Leah. Not that it would make any difference. Still, he wanted to know.

“So how’d Phoebe’s weddin’ turn out the other day?” Selina asked, adjusting the coverlet that had slipped when she’d changed positions. Michael leaped up and immediately helped her with it.

Jake glanced over at Leah, wondering just how he should answer that.

Leah came into the living room carrying a tray with four cups of coffee each sitting on a small plate, spoons, a bowl with sugar and a creamer jar. “Phoebe looked fabulous,” Leah responded with her back to Michael and Selina. She offered Jake a half wink of understanding, and his heart jerked when he realized what she was doing. She was protecting him. His admiration for her went up another notch. “Markus was so cute,” she continued as she handed each of them a cup and waited while they added what cream and sugar they wanted to their beverage. “Markus couldn’t take his eyes off of Phoebe the whole time. Especially when she walked down the aisle.”

As she went on telling the details, Jake thought back to the reception and how he’d finally talked Leah into going back inside. It was sweet of her not to want to leave him out there by himself, but he didn’t want her to miss out on a fun evening because of him. He’d said goodbye, told her he was going to leave but not until he saw her safely inside. He’d walked her to the double glass doors, and Leah slipped inside with her head held high, walking with the grace of a queen. Stepping back into the shadows, he watched her mingle with those high society ladies, looking every bit as if she belonged there. An ache filled his heart even now, knowing he could never compete with that.

“I sure do wish we coulda gone, but Michael wouldn’t hear of it.” Mercifully, Selina’s voice pulled Jake from the deep, black hole of sadness his heart had started to fall through.

“Selina.” Michael drew out her name. “We’ve been over this a million times already. It’s only been a week since the babies were born. You know how fatigued you get. You need your rest.”

“Sure, I get tired, but I’m about to shanty up the stair rail. I can’t just sit around here doin’ nothin’ all day.”

“You can and you will, sweetheart.” Michael’s order sounded like a request, too.

Selina hiked one brow. “You’d best be careful orderin’ me about like that, Michael, or whenever I get stronger, I’ll fix you up a mess a crawdad tails. Or snails.”

Jake’s attention darted between Selina and Michael. Was she serious? He’d heard about the crawdad tails before but not snails. Had she fed Michael those, too? Jake swallowed hard just thinking about how disgusting that would be. His wife had better never serve him anything like that. Once again, his attention slid over to Leah, sitting in the chair across from him, her attention on Selina.

“Would you really do that, Selina? Feed him snails and crawdads?” Her blue eyes blinked. She looked so cute and shocked.

Jake couldn’t help but smile. He’d like to hear the answer to that one, too.

“Yes, ma’am. I would and already have.” A look passed between Michael and Selina. They smiled at each other and the tension dropped. His hand slid over hers and caressed it.

“She sure did.” He kissed Selina’s hand and smiled at her again.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Leah’s forehead crinkled. She looked back and forth between them, blinking as she did.

“No, we’re not kidding. In Kentucky they eat them all the time. The crawdads aren’t too bad. I don’t know about the snails. Haven’t had those. No offense, sweetheart, but I hope I never do, either. And I refuse to get too worked up over it. It’s part of who Selina is, and I love her for it.”

Jake didn’t know if love would ever be enough to make him eat fish bait. Just the thought of that stuff made him squirm.

They visited for about forty minutes and left.

Forest dirt, fern, kinnikinnick bushes and pine trees surrounded them as they walked side by side to the main ranch yard.

“So, what do you have to do now?” Leah asked.

“A few more chores before I head home. You?”

“Since Mother hired Veronique to help around the house, there isn’t much to do anymore. We all pitch in and help with the cooking and laundry, so it doesn’t take nearly as long as it used to. Sometimes Veronique’s sisters, Colette and Zoé, come and help, too. Because of that, I’m able to go to town a lot more now.”

“What do you do in town?”

“Visit with friends. Shop. Work on quilts. Stuff like that.”

“I see.” They reached the barn door.

After a few minutes of neither of them saying anything, Leah looked up at him and said, “Well, I think I’ll go visit Rainee for a while. I’ll see you later, Jake.”

He gave a quick nod, and she headed in the direction of Haydon and Rainee’s house.

He got to work filling a bucket with fresh, clean water and gathering everything else he needed to doctor the Palouse horse. Who’d-a thought the horse would have spooked at Kitty? That sweet little pig wouldn’t hurt a leaf. Butterfly must not have agreed, though. When Kitty got too close to her, she took off running and ended up scraping her shoulder on a tree branch. Nothing anyone tried had helped Butterfly to get over her fear of pigs. Even getting her around Kitty hadn’t worked.

Tethered outside, Butterfly pawed the ground and shifted her spotted rump around. She turned her neck and stared at Jake with those blinking doe eyes, probably wondering what he was up to.

Jake picked up the full bucket of water and a clean rag and headed to the front of the horse. He patted the mare on the neck. “Who names their horse Butterfly, anyway? This is one interesting family. I’ll tell you that.” His voice drifted into the midmorning void.

With one hand he held on to the lead rope and with the other he dipped the rag into the cool water and blotted the wide scrape across the horse’s shoulder to soften the dried blood. On first contact, she shifted. “It’s okay, girl.” Jake patted her neck again and she stopped moving, so he continued to work at cleaning the wound.

“How’s Butterfly doing?” From several yards away, Haydon dismounted his horse and came around to the front of the Palouse.

“Doesn’t look too bad. Scraped the hide off is all it looks like.”

“That’s good. Hate to see her all scarred up.”

“Don’t think that’ll happen. The hair should grow back just fine.”

“From the looks of it, I agree.” Haydon stepped away from the inspection of the animal. “When you get finished here, what’re you going to do?”

“Was going to head home. Why? Need something?”

“Yes, actually, I do. Could I get you to do me a huge favor? Unless you have to get home right away.”

“Nope. No rush. Got up earlier this morning and did everything I needed to. Wheat’s doing fine. What can I do for you?”

“Can you run into town for me? I’d send one of the other hands, but Jess keeps them so busy, none of them have time to go.”

“I can do that. What you need?”

Haydon pulled a list out of his pocket and handed it to him. “You’ll need to take the wagon. Just have them put that stuff on my account.”

Jake looked at the list and nodded.

“Well, I’ve got to get back out there.” Haydon untied his horse and swung onto the saddle. “Thanks, Jake. I appreciate this. I’ll pay you extra for your time.”

Jake wanted to argue with him. But when Michael offered him the job, Jake had offered to help without pay, saying that’s what friends do. He’d never wanted to take their money, but none of them would hear of it. They refused his help even unless he agreed to let them pay him. Jake had to admit, as much as he hated taking it, the extra money came in handy. Especially because he was looking to marry soon.

* * *

Leah knocked on Rainee’s door. Children’s voices and scuffling noises came from inside. The door flew open. “Auntie.” Rosie threw her arms around Leah’s waist. She returned her niece’s hug and kissed her on top of her head. The girl released her and glanced up at Leah with those fawn-colored eyes that matched her mother’s perfectly. Rosie even shared the same fawn-colored hair as Rainee.

“Hi, Auntie.” Emily’s arms slipped around Leah. Her hug wasn’t as exuberant as Rosie’s. It was more dignified. Emily might look more like Haydon with her blond hair and blue eyes, but she acted more like the Southern belle portion of her mother.

“Mother’s feeding Haydon Junior. Want me to go tell her that you’re here?” Emily asked.

Leah glanced toward Rainee’s closed bedroom door, debating what to do. “No. I can come back later.”

“Ah. Please don’t go, Auntie,” Rosie begged.

“Yes. Please don’t go. Mother bought us a new book and we were reading it. Won’t you please join us?”

“You could read to us.” Rosie clapped her small fingertips, her eyes wide and expectant.

How could Leah say no to them? She didn’t have anything planned, anyway. “Okay.”

They each grabbed one of her hands and led her into the living room. Leah admired Rainee’s new furniture. The old furniture was so worn out, yet Haydon couldn’t convince Rainee to order a new set, so he had. The blue material with small, light gold roses, the button-tufted backs and mahogany-legged sofa and the matching chairs were beautiful. The pattern reminded her of the English tête-à-tête sofa they had back in New York.
New York.
Her heart flipped at the thought.

Rosie tugged on her sleeve. “Aren’t you going to sit down?” Emily looked up at her from the couch. There was just enough space between the girls for her to fit.

Knowing she would be leaving soon, she wanted to spend as much time with her nieces as possible. She smiled and sat down between them. “Yes, I am. Now, who’s going to read to whom?”

“You first, okay?” Rosie gave her that hopeful look that melted an aunt’s heart into submission.

Leah took the book from Emily and read the title. “
Hans Brinker, or, the Silver Skates: A Story of Life in Holland
by Mary Mapes Dodge. I haven’t read this before. This will be fun.” She settled comfortably into the sofa and both girls tucked into her sides as she read.