Loving Eliza (5 page)

“You don’t have to leave,” the one named Troy spoke up.

She shifted from one foot to the other.  “I’d better.  I have some personal business to attend to.” There.  No man wanted to insist a woman stick around when she had
personal business
to do.

“It was nice meeting you, Eliza,” Aaron called out.

The others voiced their agreement.

She didn’t even bother looking in John’s direction as she thanked them and left.  She breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door swung shut behind her as she made her way across the grass to her new home.  She’d wait until they left before she asked John what else he wanted her to do to earn her keep.  For the moment, she wasn’t needed.  And whatever was going on, she was glad to be out of it.

J
ohn wished they hadn’t come out.  This was exactly what he feared when he and Eliza stalled in town yesterday, and since she refused to marry him, his brothers were much too interested in her, especially Troy.  At least Aaron and Guy were married.  Shawn was too young.  That meant he had to worry about Troy.

He turned his attention from the door Eliza just walked through so he could face his brothers.

“She sure is a fine looker,” Shawn commented.  “How old do you think she is?”

“Too old for you,” Aaron remarked.  “Most likely, she’s about twenty-five.” His gaze shifted from John to Troy.  “Looks like you two have some competition.”

Troy snorted.  “As if there’s a real choice to be had.”

John’s face flushed in anger.  Naturally, Troy assumed she was g
oing to end up with him.  This wa
s exactly what John feared.  Just because he couldn’t talk, did it really make him undesirable to women?

“Of course, there’s no real choice,” Guy spoke up.  “John’s expecting a mail-order bride.  He’s as good as married.”

Shawn
smirked at Troy.  “Only she didn’t show, did she?” He glanced at John.  “She didn’t come at all
,
or did she meet you and decide it wasn’t going to work?”

John shook his head.  He didn’t want to discuss it with them.

“If she
’d shown
up, we would have heard about it,”
Shawn
said
nonchalantly as he placed his hands behind his head.  “The marshal’s mail-order bride came in with her aunt, and Eliza came too.  There wasn’t a fourth woman.”

“That’s a tough break,” Aaron
told John.  “Maybe you should post another ad.  The next one might come out.  There must be one woman who wouldn’t mind marrying a man who can’t talk.  Sometimes my wife wishes I’d shut up.  A mute might be ideal.”

“I doubt it,” Troy stated.  “The sooner John gets used to being single, the better.”

“That’s not true,” Aaron replied.  “Daphne did say she’d come out, even after I wrote about his handicap.”

“But she decided against it,” Troy added.

“Maybe the next one won’t.  Maybe we’re going about this all wrong.  Maybe we should include he’s mute in the ad.  Then whoever replies, we know she’s prepared.”

“You’re wasting John’s time and money.  Leave it alone.  Besides, he’s happy as things are.”

“He is not.”

“He is too.  Why, it’s peaceful out here, and he makes a good living.  In fact, I bet he makes more than us with his odd jobs.”

“He’s standing in the room,” Shawn intervened.

“We know,” Troy said.

“Then why are you talking about him as if he’s not here?”

“Because he can’t talk.  We can’t have a real conversation with him.”

“He’s mute, not dumb,” Guy added.

“And how is he going to talk to us?” Troy looked at John.  “How is your day so far, John?”

Leave.  All of you need to go home. 
If John could talk, that’
s exactly what he’d tell them.  Instead, he glared at Troy.

“See,” Troy said.  “He just stands there and watches people.  He’s spooky.”

“He’s not spooky,” Guy argued.

“Are you kidding?  None of the kids will talk to him.  They even have a rhyme they made up about him.  It goes—”

“Enough!” Aaron snapped
.  “Our parents would be rolling
over in their graves if they knew about this conversation.” He stood up.  “We wanted to see Eliza for ourselves.  We heard she was the prettiest little thing in town, and darned if that isn’t the most accurate statement I’ve ever heard.  But Troy, if you expect her to consider you, you’d better shape up.”

“I’d do better if I didn’t have the lot of you chaperoning me,” Troy dryly replied.  “I wanted to come alone, but you all had to stick your noses into my business.”

“You should thank us for coming out,” Guy said.  “Otherwise, you would have made a fool of yourself.”

Troy narrowed his eyes at him.

John hast
en
ed to the kitchen and grabbed a broom.  When he returned,
he banged it on the floor, immediately stopping Guy and Troy from getting into another fight.
  When they grew silent, he pointed to the door.

“Let’s get out of here,” Aaron said, standing up.

Shawn followed suit and also stood.  “Yeah, the last thing he needs to lose is another chair because you two couldn’t keep your tempers down,” he told Guy and Troy.

Relieved, John watched as they left.  Now that they met Eliza, they could stay in town.  He set the broom back in the kitchen and rubbed his eyes.  He hated it when they came out.  Getting them gathered into one room was like waiting for dynamite to explode.  Thankfully, Troy never came out alone.  He knew that Troy thought he had limited mental abilities.  Just because he couldn’t talk, it didn’t mean he didn’t understand what was going on around him.

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he decided to
see where Eliza went.  He
frowned when he reached the screen door. 
Eliza stood a few feet from the house.  She had collected a handful
of flowers
but stopped when Troy approached her.

Before he had a chance to think about it, he strode out of the house, not bothering to look at his other brothers who stopped on their way to their horses to watch what he’d do.  He didn’t care what they thought.  A woman like Eliza didn’t come his way every day.  In fact, she’d never come his way until the day before, and he wasn’t stupid enough to lie down and give her up to his brother.

“If you need anything at all, be sure to let me know,” Troy told her.

“Well, that’s very kind of you,” Eliza replied.

John clenched his jaw.  Did her smile mean she looked forward to seeing Troy again?  He stepped up to her.

She jerked.  “Oh, John.  You gave me a good scare.  I didn’t even hear you coming.”

Troy’s eyebrows furrowed.  “He’s sneaky that way.”

“Then you’d better watch your back.  You don’t know when he’s coming,” she replied, chuckling.  She turned to John and showed him the purple and white flowers.  “I hope you don’t mind but I thought I’d collect some flowers to put into your home.  Flowers brighten up the place, don’t you think?”

He smiled at her and nodded. 
Take that, Troy.  She’s bringing flowers in
to
my house, not yours.
 
Still, he realized he had no yellow flowers for her to choose from.  He’d have to rectify that.  He thought he’d seen some along the small creek winding through his property.  He’d go back there before
the day was over to check on that
.

“Come on, Troy,” Guy called out, sounding annoyed.  “We have to get back.”

“I’ll see you around.” Without a glance in John’s direction, Troy tipped his hat in her direction
and approached his horse.

Shawn whispered something to him.

“Shut up,” he growled before he got on his steed.

John relaxed.  Good.  They’d be gone...at least for awhile.  Maybe long enough for him to convince Eliza to marry him.  Then Troy would have to stay away for good.

Eliza waited until his brothers were out of earshot before she spoke.  “Do they come around often?”

He shook his head.

“Then it must be good when they do.” She picked up a couple more purple flowers before she turned back to him.  “I’m sorry I interfere
d.  I should have let the five of you be
by yourselves.”

He wondered why she said that so he lifted his hands, palms up and gave her a questioning look.

“Naturally, I was in the way.  They came by to see you, not me.”

Before he could protest, she turned back to the flowers.  What did it matter what she assumed?  He couldn’t explain it, nor did he really care to.  If she knew that Troy wanted to get to know her better, then she
might
consider the possibility of being with
him
, and if she did that...  John frowned.  He
didn’t like that idea at all.  Maybe it was best to let her think what she did.  Then she’d
leave whenever Troy
came around in the future.  It’d give J
ohn a better chance with her, t
hough it was probably wrong for him to manipulate things like he was.

She straightened up and warmly smiled at him.  She was so beautiful.  He’d love to wake up every morning and see her smile at him like that.  Fine.  So maybe he’d have to pull some strings until she agreed to marry him. 
But h
e’d be good to her.  He wasn’t exactly sure what husbands did to care for their wives, but he could learn.

“I think these will be enough for your home.  They’ll smell nice too.” Closing her eyes, she l
ifted the bouquet to her nose
and inhaled.  When she opened them, her brown eyes were sparkling.  “There’s nothing as wonderful as fresh flowers.”

No.  There’
s
nothing as wonderful as you
.

“I’ll get out of your way so you can go about your day as you usually do.  I’ll yell out for you when lunch is ready.  Is noon alright for that?”

He nodded.

“I’
ll holler for you at noon.”

He wanted t
o follow her in the house and join her in
whatever she planned but figured she must not want him nearby since she specifically said she’d call for him when she was ready to be with him again.  Sighing, he dragged his feet to the shed.  Noon
suddenly seemed a long way off.

***

Eliza finished making the bean soup and l
oaf of bread before she spread out the nice lacy green tablecloth she’d found tucked away at the back of the cupboard while she examined the kitchen to see what she could make.  She found containers for the flowers and placed a bouquet in each room.  Pulling back the heavy drapes in his bedroom, she realized that the place needed a good scrubbing.  She already knew she had her work cut out for her in the kitchen and parlor, but the bedroom came as a surprise for he had made it a habit of putting all his things in their proper place.  The darkness of the room hindered anyone’s ability to see the faded walls.

Paint.  The whole place needed a fresh coat of paint.  She thought a nice cheery yellow would do for the kitchen.  A nice soothing green would work for the parlor and maybe the bedroom too.  She’d scrub the hardwood floors too so they would look much better.

She grew tired at the thought of all the work she’d end up doing but already knew it would be worth it.  The furniture was so beautiful.  John needed a house to go with it.  As she left the house to find him, she calculated the cost for everything, remembering the curtains she wanted to put up too.

She found John in the shed.  He was painting the table he had just completed.
  She whistled.  “This is the prettiest table I’ve ever seen.  The person you’re making it for will be pleased.”

He looked up from his brush and smiled at her.

She cocked her head to the side and studied him.  “You know, you’re a heartbreaker when you smile.”

His eyes grew wide.