Mail Order Love (Sweet Mail Order Bride Historical Romance Novel) (Oregon Mail Order Brides) (7 page)

He was so relaxed, it made her feel relaxed too. He had a quiet warmth emanating from him.

He looked at her, and she quickly flicked her eyes back to the road.

She could see from the corner of her eye that Jared was observing the dogs. One was at her lap, one on her feet. “Yep, those dogs are getting pretty comfy with you. Must be you smell good to them or something. You got animals or anything, back in Boston?”

Ellie smiled. She hadn’t expected Jared to make conversation.

“I had a caged canary once, when I was little, back in different times. I guess a canary wouldn’t last long around these dogs. Be a small snack for them.”

Ellie cringed as she heard herself speak. Why was she speaking such rubbish to her new employer?

“Hah! Yep, that’s right.”

Thank God he wasn’t snooty with her. He had every opportunity to put her in her place but he chose not to.

The scenery was opening out into a full view of the prairies now. Green and golden rolling plains stretched out as far as the eye could see, bathed in a warm afternoon light. Ellie breathed in the air with hints of grass, wildflowers and damp soil. She sank further back into her seat in bliss. This felt like healing.

The next thing she knew, she was startled awake as the buggy slowed down and the dogs moved from her feet and lap. She looked at Jared, hoping she had not been drooling with her mouth open while she slept.

“We’re coming up to the homestead now right here. Out there are the bounds of our land, beyond that hill in the distance.”

Ellie’s eyes widened. It was a beautiful wooden house of four stories, with white wooden slats over the entire structure and large welcoming windows. A wide covered porch wound around the house. There were gardens to the side with what looked like fruit trees and maybe a vegetable patch.

This had to be the biggest home she had ever seen. Ten, no, twenty times the size of Ursula’s terraced house back in Boston. And all that land, the horses, the cattle, the fields for growing.

How could she ever handle this amount of work?

Chapter 13

As Jared got out to unhitch the horses from the buggy, Ellie hopped down on her own. Jared watched with amused eyes. He’d never known any woman do that before. Just about every lady had needed some kind of escorting to get down. Either a hand to lean on or to be lifted entirely. Ellie evidently didn’t know about these customs and was nimble enough to handle it herself. It was refreshing.

Ellie waited patiently as Jared finished seeing to the horses. He took her trunk down from the buggy and carried it as they walked the short distance to the big wooden front door. Jared shoved the door open with his boot as he usually did. Grammy wasn’t around. Maybe she was upstairs taking a nap.

Jared gave Ellie a broad smile. “Come on in now, Ellie, you are welcome.” She was all big wide eyes. She looked lost.

Ellie stared around the room as if she had never seen anything like it in her life.

Jared gestured around the front room. “This is it, it’s the main room we live in. The whole place is pretty big as you can see. Pa liked to build. He said he wanted a room for every grandchild he was expecting to have. We’ve got maybe twenty rooms in all and that’s just the main house. Lots of space to spread out in.”

Jared eyed his visitor. She seemed shocked by his words, letting her mouth hang open for a while before remembering to shut it. Maybe she was tired from her trip or something.

“Look, I’ll show you your room and such. Grammy should have made it up for you. Then just forget about work for today, let’s get started proper tomorrow. We’ll show you what to do then.”

Jared led her up an impressive dark wooden staircase that twisted around as it went up. They climbed up past the first floor, up past the second floor, and up to the attic. There were windows let in along the outside wall of the staircase to show the prairie view.

Jared opened the door to a spacious attic room. It had a sloping roof hung with bunches of lavender and rosemary that had been tied upside down to dry out. They released an intoxicating herbal aroma that blended with the deliciously dry spicy smell of the wooden beams. Jared saw that Grammy had made up the double-sized bed in fresh white linen with fancy edges, thick fluffy feather pillows and white feather quilts, topped with a pretty red patchwork quilt embroidered with blue birds.

Should be enough to keep her warm. She’ll need lots of bedding, slim thing like her.

He opened the large high windows set into the front side of the house. “Be all right for you?”

Ellie seemed speechless, so he continued.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to bathe right in here in the room. There is a fire for heating the water and a large tub you can fill up. You’ll have to pump the water yourself and take it up the stairs. Good news is this tub is for you only. Let’s see … there’s a big pot of stew on the hob downstairs. Just help yourself, make yourself at home. We don’t stand on ceremony here. I’m out a lot of the time, taking care of the ranch and the animals, mending fences. Got all you need?”

Jared felt he had done enough entertaining for now. He had work to do. And he had a small, possibly ineffectual housekeeper on his hands who now appeared to be mute.

Ellie still hadn’t uttered a word.

“Ma’am?”

“I … you mean, this is all for me?”

“Sure enough. You can rest here for a while, freshen up and such. I’ll show you around later on and you can meet my grandmother. We call her Grammy. If you’ll excuse me for now.”

Jared left Ellie’s attic and thundered back down the stairs to shut the front door he had left open. He moved swiftly across the front room in a few big strides and powered up the back stairs to Grammy’s separate wing.

Grammy, you interfering little elf, where are you?

He knocked and heard Grammy call from within.

“Ah my boy! I am just painting the pups.”

Jared opened the door to Grammy’s room. The scene in front of him made him smile. The five wolfhound puppies were playing on a red tartan rug spread in a patch of sunlight in the middle of the room. Grammy had on a painter’s smock dotted with a rainbow of paint over her bright pink and blue flowered dress. Her white hair was standing up, highlighted with splodges of blue-gray and red where the paint had touched it.

Grammy’s dark eyes were inquisitive.

“Makes for a perfect advert to get these pups sold, you see. I paint them looking fetching, show it down the town meeting hall and word gets around. We find good owners and the pups sell like hot cakes to the right people. But tell me, Jared, how do you like your new lady friend? I sneaked a glance at you both coming in. Pretty little lady I picked out for you.”

“Fine surprise, Grammy. You realize she thinks she’s coming here as a housekeeper? You misread the advert.”

Grammy thought this hilarious and collapsed into peals of laughter while Jared watched her impassively. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Oh whoops, my sweet. Jared, catch that pup for me, he’s running off. Well, I hope it will all turn out for the good. She looks like a nice comely girl.”

Jared scooped up the pup and placed him back in the heap as he puffed out an exasperated half sigh, half laugh.

“Grammy, you can’t just order a housekeeper and marry her. And have you seen her? She’s as thin as a pole.”

“Nothing that a few good meals won’t fix. So you want to return her then?” Grammy’s eyes smiled at Jared.

“Well! We can’t just return her. I mean, she came all the way here, and she’s not an object we can return to the store. She seems like a nice person and all, I just don’t need a strange woman in the house. We agreed a month trial then I’ll send her back. It will give her time to find another job.”

Grammy eyed Jared carefully.

“You two love birds can have your meal together alone, I’ll meet her tomorrow. Mr. Allen will be picking me up for my games night shortly.”

“Love birds? Grammy, she is a housekeeper that I don’t want, and she’s here for one month only. Remember that.”

“All right, my darling." Grammy gave him such a goofy grin that he grinned back in response. Then he pulled a face at her before turning back down the stairs to the front room. He poured himself a mug of cold tea and downed it in three gulps before climbing back up to Ellie’s room, thinking to offer her some hot tea and milk after her long journey.

As Jared came in through the open door he saw her curled up on the bed. Fast asleep.

She must be tired from all the traveling. Saves me having to make conversation.

He ducked out and closed the door softly behind him with a sigh of relief.

Forget the whole mess for now. I’ve got fences to mend, more important things to do.

Chapter 14

Ellie heard the sound of calling birds. The birds twittered, creating a lilting melody as they anticipated the dawn.

This was not Boston, that was for sure.

Ellie slowly became aware of her surroundings. She felt wonderfully comfortable, afloat on a cloud of feathers encased in crisp white linen. Everything was so clean. The fresh air of the prairies rushed in through the open window to greet her nose.

Slowly she opened her eyes. It was not yet dawn, but she could make out the room by the pale setting moon. She was in Oregon State, way out in the prairies. In a beautiful room. In a beautiful bed made up in white linen edged with broderie anglaise.

She looked down to check what she was wearing. She was still fully dressed but somehow she had snuggled down under the covers. She must have fallen asleep right after lying on the bed for a moment yesterday afternoon.

That meant she must have slept for over twelve whole hours. Ellie put her hands to her cheeks. How shameful. She was in a new house, in the role of a domestic no less. Yet here she was, sleeping in luxury like a queen in her regal bed. Thank goodness it was early. With luck the rest of the house would still be sleeping.

Ellie got up quickly and rinsed her face before changing into one of the work dresses she had brought with her. The dress was blue and white checked poplin. She had carefully pressed it and wrapped it with paper during packing so the creases shook out fine.

She brushed her hair until it shone and arranged it in a loose braid which she carefully coiled and pinned up. It was important to look clean and neat. She needed every advantage she could get.

Ellie was still in a state of shock at the luxury of the place. She could hardly believe this room was for her. Four of Ursula’s front rooms could fit into it with room to spare.

The sloping ceiling was so high that even the tallest person could walk around the room without stooping. The ceiling and walls were beamed in cozy dark wood with whitewash on the walls behind. And her bed. It was the biggest bed she had ever seen in her life. The people here undoubtedly took their home comforts seriously.

She wondered about her new employer, Jared. Had the letter been from him? The writing didn’t look like it suited him. Too old and feminine. He was young and he gave the most masculine impression possible.

Everything about him was manly in the extreme: his gruff demeanor, his skin tanned by the sun, his big tough boots, his confident muscular walk. Yet Ellie could detect a kindness underneath the rough exterior.

Was there no one else in this place apart from Jared, and Grammy, whom she hadn’t even met yet? Why had Jared seemed so noncommittal during the journey back? Did he even want her here?

And the size of the place. It was quite simply overwhelming. Ellie didn’t see how she would be able to run such a home.

Ellie’s head fizzed with unanswered questions. As she worried about her situation she felt knots of worry forming in her stomach.

I should stop worrying and do something about it instead. I will get to work right now. I need to prove myself.

Ellie crept down the stairs slowly. She winced as they creaked. If she could get the front room clean and tidy before the others awoke, it would be an auspicious start.

She opened the doors and windows in the front room and took a few steps out into the yard. The rolling hills loomed up with the pale pink light of dawn starting to flush behind them. The chickens clucked placidly. She took a deep breath of the cool, damp, misty air and looked up at the faint stars still gleaming low in the sky.

Please God, help me make this work. Let me stay here, and I will do everything I can for these people and live a good life.

Ellie felt a sensation of wellbeing rise up from her center. Perhaps the deep sleep, the clean air, and the lack of Ursula were doing her good. She was feeling stronger by the minute. She might be scrawny and weak-looking, but she would make up for it in energy and effort.

She got the fire dancing with yellow flames and warmed up the water. As the welcoming light of dawn filtered into the front room, she swept the floor, polished the table, cleaned all the pots and pans, and dusted and tidied as best she could.

Ellie made her special coffee that she knew how to make well. Her trick was to break a raw egg and mix it into the ground coffee, shell and all. Then she added water with a pinch of salt and brewed the whole lot up.