Mail Order Bride: Westward Dance (7 page)

While the ranch was Dean’s source of
comfort, often it was Seth’s source of pain. He sighed and shoved
unwanted thoughts from his mind and got on with the business of
letter writing.

Chloe brought Maddie the next letter
from Seth. Maddie snatched it from her and pushed her maid out the
door quickly. She locked it and then jumped into her bed to read
it. She had been going to lay down for a short nap when Chloe had
knocked. She settled in to read the letter instead.

Dear Maddie,

I understand about needing
to get on your feet since I can’t walk yet. I’m chomping at the bit
just to be able to walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water or
to be able to use the outhouse. I’m sure you understand what I’m
saying there. So, take your time and you could always come next
year. Winters in Montana and North Dakota tend to start early, so
with this being the end of June, you’d want to start no later than
the beginning of August. Earlier if you’re intending to come for a
short stay and get home again before the weather turns
bad.

Little Mikey is something
else. He’s already talking a blue streak and he’s only two. He
tries to say my name but comes out something more like “shush”.
Dean doesn’t help because he just keeps getting him to call me it.
He mainly does it when he doesn’t like something I’m saying. He’ll
point at me and say, “Who’s that?” Mikey says, “Shush” and if I
start talking again, he’ll keep saying it.

It’s not funny! I can hear
you laughing from here. Well, it’s a little funny. Sadie is
becoming a real beauty. She’s fourteen now and I think she has a
crush on a boy that lives down the road. I don’t know if Dean has
noticed, but I’m not going to say anything about it. He’ll scare
the poor kid to death and I don’t even know if Tucker likes her
back. Best to keep my mouth shut so Sadie doesn’t become
embarrassed by her pa.

I’m sorry if some of my
writing is shaky. It’s not because of my aches and pains, it’s
Trouble. He keeps pestering me to pet him. Speaking of him, he can
do all of the things you mentioned, plus fetch and speak. Tessa
said that when your folks took you to the circus some of the
poodles could walk on their front paws and stuff like
that.

I don’t know about doing
that, but it’ll be interesting to see what all he can learn. Mikey
is here telling me to shush, so I guess that means it’s time for me
to quit.

Seth

Maddie laughed and put the letter down.
It was easy to see it all in her mind, but it wouldn’t be the same
as seeing it in person. She rose and looked out her bedroom window
onto the street below. Carriages passed beneath her, their
passengers lost in their lives, going places. Maddie suddenly felt
stifled. In a way, she was as stuck as Seth.

He was confined to a sofa or bed and
she was confined to her home. While she loved her home, it would be
nice to leave it sometimes. Maddie remembered the days when she had
only been home long enough to prepare for a night out or to sleep.
As she looked down on the street and thought about the past, Maddie
found that the things she used to enjoy doing seemed
meaningless.

The balls, parties, and dinners had
kept her busy, but what had she accomplished other than raising
money for various causes? She’d thought herself happy, simply
having fun every day. She’d been doing exactly what she’d told
Tessa she would do. The night she had been introduced to society,
Maddie had said to Tessa that she was having too much fun to settle
down and that when she did, it would be with someone exciting and
fun.

She was twenty-one, still young, and
should still be having fun. Instead she was cowering in her home,
afraid to start attending events and such again because of the very
real possibility of encountering Theo. The thought made her shiver
and for a moment, she could feel his cruel hands on her flesh, his
mouth grinding down on hers.

Her heart pounded in her chest and her
breath had quickened. She needed a distraction before she succumbed
to panic. She picked up Seth’s letter and read it until she calmed
down. Maddie kept her mind on Seth. His letters were funny and it
was obvious that he loved his family.

Maddie wondered what he looked like and
then remembered that her father had told her that all three of the
Samuels men were tall and well built. He’d said that Seth and Dean
were blond with blue eyes while Marcus had jet black hair and gray
eyes. She was surprised that she was thinking about Seth in a
slightly romantic sense. Why would that be? Maybe it was because
his letters were so personal that it felt as if they were having a
conversation instead of just words on paper.

Had he ever been in love? Maddie had
been infatuated, but never in love. She was no angel when it came
to the opposite sex. If her parents knew about some of her
exploits, they would no doubt be disappointed, but she’d been young
and impetuous. She knew what passion was and looking back on it,
wasn’t regretful.

She was wise to the way men thought
about women and figured that Seth was no different. Had there been
a special woman in his life? Maddie suspected not since he was
mainly on the trail. Maddie’s mind was suddenly overflowing with
questions about the man and she realized that she had nothing to
lose by going to Montana.

Seeing Tessa would be wonderful and
meeting her niece and nephews was an added bonus. Geoffrey said
that it was a beautiful, wild land and Maddie was shocked by her
unexpected yearning to go there. She would be free of fear there
and with people who cared about her. Getting out of Pittsburgh for
a time could be the best way to put the awful incident behind her
and be happy again.

Maddie decided to discuss the matter
with her parents to get their thoughts on it. She wasn’t asking for
permission, she just wanted them to be involved in her plans. No
longer interested in a nap, Maddie dressed and went
downstairs.

Tessa paced in the kitchen, looking out
the windows every little bit. Seth watched her with a mixture of
amusement and irritation from his seat on the sofa. He’d started to
be able to do a little walking the past week, but it was not pretty
or painless. Doc had brought him some crutches that would fit his
tall frame and he’d experimented with them.

His collarbone had long ago healed and
he’d worked a lot of the stiffness out of his shoulder. With help,
Seth could get up and stand on his left leg and then swing forward
slowly. He couldn’t go very fast because it caused searing pain to
run up his leg. Seth was amazed at how quickly going the short
distance from the parlor to the kitchen sapped his
strength.

Seth understood how Tessa felt. He was
equal parts excited and nervous. Meeting women had never been a
problem for him in the past, but that was when he was whole and
healthy. Now, he felt like half a man and worried about what Maddie
would think when she first met him. Would she see a cripple and
pity him? He hoped not, but couldn’t blame her if she
did.

Tessa’s exclamation of joy announced
that Dean and Marcus had arrived with her sister. She ran out the
door without helping Seth get up and flew up the drive. Maddie
hopped down from the wagon before Dean could stop her and hurried
to meet Tessa. The two women hugged and laughed and cried,
overjoyed to see one another.

“Let me see you!” Tessa said. “I think
you’ve gotten taller.”

Maddie laughed. “Look at you with your
tan skin and hair in a braid. It suits you, Tessa.”

“Thank you. You’re even more beautiful
than I remember,” Tessa said and hugged Maddie again. “I’ve missed
you so much!”

Dean smiled as he watched the two
sisters. They couldn’t have been more different. Maddie’s blonde
tresses were in stark relief from Tessa’s deep brown hair. While
Tessa was a little taller than many women, Maddie was more petite.
On the ride to the ranch, he’d discovered that their personalities
were different as well.

Tessa was excited and curious about
everything and showed it. Maddie was a little more reserved or
maybe she was just a little shy. Dean couldn’t blame her after what
she’d experienced and the fact that she was heading into the
unknown. It had been a good idea that she hadn’t made the trip to
Montana alone, he thought and smiled again.

He looked back into the wagon and gave
a silent nod.

“What am I? Chopped liver?”

Tessa whirled around upon hearing the
dearly familiar voice of their father. “Papa!” she shrieked when
she saw him pop up from inside the wagon.

Geoffrey had agreed that going to
Montana would be good for Madelyn, but there was no way she was
going without him. He’d proposed that they all go, but Claire was
too busy with school and Maureen had come down with influenza so
Geoffrey alone had accompanied Maddie.

He disembarked from the wagon and was
caught up in the whirlwind that was his eldest daughter. Geoff
enfolded her in his embrace and lifted her from the ground,
something he hadn’t done for a long time. She hung on and laughed.
He put her down and held her from him.

“You look wonderful, daughter,” he
said.

Tessa’s eyes danced. “So do you, Papa.
I can’t believe Maddie didn’t tell me you were coming.”

Maddie chuckled. “It wouldn’t have been
a surprise if I did, now would it have?”

Tessa took her hand. “No. And it’s a
wonderful surprise.”

Marcus stepped over the seat of the
wagon and grabbed the reins from Dean. “Go introduce Maddie and
Geoffrey to the rest of the family. I’ll take care of the team and
the bags,” he said and gave Dean a playful shove off the wagon
seat.

Dean didn’t argue with his brother. He
was excited as everyone else and grateful to Marcus for allowing
him the opportunity to see the first time that Geoffrey and Maddie
would meet Mikey. Sadie came out carrying the little
fellow.

Dean took him from his daughter and
held him. “Mikey, this is your Grandpa. Why don’t you go say
hello?”

Geoffrey smiled at Mikey. He saw traces
of both Dean and Tessa in his grandson and it was going to be a
tossup as to who he would end up looking more like when he was
grown.

His dark hair was wild and his blue
eyes alive with curiosity about this new person.

“Hello, Mikey. I’m very pleased to meet
you,” Geoff said and held his hands out in the universal way of
asking a child to come to them.

Mikey gave Geoff a shy smile and leaned
towards him. Geoff took him and was surprised by how solid Mikey
was. He was obviously well fed. He kissed Mikey’s forehead and
pride in this little person blossomed in his chest. Mikey kissed
him back and they all laughed.

“That’s his mother’s training,” Dean
said. “He does it to everyone.”

“It’s splendid,” Geoff said.

Then Mikey spotted Maddie and he leaned
towards her without being coaxed. Maddie stepped forward and took
the little boy who instantly began playing with her silky blonde
hair.

“Michael, don’t mess up your Aunt
Maddie’s hair,” Tessa scolded.

Maddie said, “Oh leave him be. You are
a handsome little man, aren’t you?”

Mikey kissed her. Marcus came by them
carrying a couple of suitcases. “Can’t say I blame him,” he said
casting a wicked smile Maddie’s way.

“You’re a flirt,” Maddie
said.

“Guilty,” Marcus said and kept on
going.

He entered the house and went into the
parlor. Seth blocked his path with one of his crutches.

“Help me up,” Seth
whispered.

“What?”

“Help me up. Put the damn suitcases
down and help me up,” Seth growled.

Marcus’ dark brows drew together in
annoyance. “How about you say ‘please’?”

“How about you just do as I’m asking
and I won’t kill you?” Seth countered.

Marcus sighed and put the bags down. He
wasn’t afraid of Seth; it was just that it was sometimes easier to
do what his big brother wanted and get it over with because Seth
didn’t let things go easily.

Call it silly, but Seth wanted to be on
his feet when Maddie saw him for the first time. It would make him
feel a little more confident. He didn’t remember ever being this
nervous about meeting a woman before.

Marcus got up under Seth’s right arm.
Seth held one of the crutches in his left hand and prepared to use
it to pull himself up.

“Ready?” Marcus said.

“Yeah,” Seth replied.

Grunts from Marcus as he took on most
of Seth’s weight and creative expletives from Seth filled the room.
Finally the job was completed and Seth stood upright even though
his leg throbbed. Marcus frowned as he watched Seth’s face become
pale.

“You ok? Maybe you should sit back
down. That’d be better than falling down,” he said.

Seth closed his eyes and took a few
deep breaths as he fought to stay conscious. Finally the fog
cleared and some of the pain subsided. “I’m fine. How do I
look?”

“Like you’re going to fall over,”
Marcus said.