Mail Order Madness (9 page)

She watched the scenery pass by wondering what to expect from her wedding lunch. 
She was not looking forward to having to appear happy and hosting a large group of
people with the mood she was in.  Her wedding day was ruined, and she was in the same
situation she’d been in back home, except now she was expected to be the parent. 
How could she have misread the family so badly?

When they pulled up in front of the ranch, David helped Susan down from the buggy
and led her into the house.  He turned to Mrs. Hackenshleimer.  “Will you see to the
boys, please?  I think I need to spend a minute or two talking to my wife before our
guests arrive in thirty minutes.”  He put his hand under her elbow and led her up
the stairs to his bedroom, putting her bag on the bed. 

She glared at him.  “I’m not sleeping in here with you.”
  She honestly couldn’t believe he’d expect her to with the way he’d deceived her. 
What was his problem?

His eyes narrowed dangerously.  “What do you mean?”

“Do you really think I’m going to sleep with you after you deceived me?  I don’t want
more children who will behave like the ones you’ve already got.”  She folded her arms
across her chest, letting him know she wasn’t backing down.

“You’re their mother now.  Discipline them and turn them into good kids.  They were
better behaved when their mother was alive.”  He moved toward her, standing over her
and glaring down at her.  “And you’re sleeping with me.  You’re my wife.”

She refused to back up, even though he was doing his best to intimidate her.  “You’re
okay with me disciplining those boys as I see fit?”  She poked him in his chest. 
“And I’m not sleeping with you.  I’ll sleep in one of the spare bedrooms.”

“I don’t believe in hitting children, but short of that, discipline them however you
want.”  He caught her hand and held it behind her back.  “And you
are
sleeping with me.  You’re my wife and you belong in my bed.  If you don’t want to
consummate the marriage, fine.  But you’re sleeping in my bed.”

“That’s just stupid!  Those boys need to be beaten with a switch!”  She kicked
at
him.  “And there’s no reason for me to sleep with you when there are two empty rooms
right across the hall.”

“What is wrong with you?  You think you need to beat my boys and kick me?  Violence
will get you nowhere in this house!”  He bent down and crushed his lips to hers, forcing
a response from her.  When he raised his head, his brown eyes stared into hers.  “You
will
be sleeping with me whether you think it’s stupid or not.  I won’t have Sadie knowing
my wife is sleeping in another room.”

“Fine!  You can sleep on the floor.”  She tore herself from his arms, and turned her
back to him, pressing her fingers against her lips.  Why did she like it so much when
he kissed her, even when he was
rough
about it? 

“I’ll sleep beside you in the bed.”  He walked up behind her and put his hands on
her shoulders.  “I’m sorry if you feel like I deceived you into marrying me.  I haven’t
been able to find a wife thanks to the boys, and I saw you as my only chance.”

She turned to face him.  “Why didn’t you send off for a mail order bride yourself?
  A lot of women wouldn’t mind being saddled with an instant family.
”

He shrugged.  “I was going to, but after Jesse died, the situation seemed to
o
good to pass up.”  He ran his hands up and down her arms.  “I need a wife and my
boys need a mother.
  And you needed to find a job or a husband.  You have a husband now.
”

She sighed and shook her head.  “Fine, but I’ll be your wife in name only.  Nothing
is going to happen between us that could possibly create a child.  I’m already going
to have my hands full with the hellions you already have.”
  She wasn’t about to mince words with regard to his son’s behavior.  If he didn’t
like it, he shouldn’t have hidden their true nature from her before they married.

He winced when she called the boys hellions, but he knew she was right.  They were
awful.  “That’s fine.  Just don’t shame me by sleeping in another room, please.”

“I won’t.”
  She hated to give in to him, but she could understand a man’s pride and need to
save face.

He glanced at the clock sitting on the dresser.  “It’s time to go down and greet our
guests.”

She shrugged.  “I guess we need to go then.”  She looked at him.  “I hope you realize
I’m furious with you.”

He nodded.  “I know.  And I
am
sorry.”

She followed him out of the room and down the stairs to where their guests were already
starting to assemble.  The boys were all
freshly scrubbed
and dressed in
clean
clothes.  The clothes weren’t as nice as the ones they’d worn to the wedding, but
they would have to do.  Albert had a fat lip and Lewis’s eye was starting to swell. 
She took the boys by the hands, and said, “Excuse me,” before she was even introduced
to any of the guests. 
She didn’t much care if David thought she was rude.  She needed to handle her new
sons.

She took the boys back to the family parlor at the back of the house and glared at
them.  “Do you two really think fighting is appropriate?  On my
wedding day
?” 
Her emphasis on the last two words was meant to fill them with guilt, and by the looks
on their faces, it worked. 
They both shook their heads looking up at her with wide eyes.  “What do you have to
say for yourselves?”

They both hung their heads, not saying a word.  It was obvious they didn’t know how
she’d react and were doing their best to act contrite.  She’d seen the same looks
on her brothers’ faces over and over.  “The first part of your punishment for fighting
on my wedding day
will be holding hands until every guest is gone.  That means at the table, while
you’re playing, and whatever you do, you will hold hands.  Do you understand?”

Albert looked up at her to protest.  “No way!  I’m not going to hold his hand!”
  He poked his brother in the arm to emphasize his words.

Susan shook her head and stepped forward to intimidate the boy.  “You will, and you’ll
do it with a smile.  For every time I see you drop hands during the party, you’ll
write twenty times
during play time tomorrow
, ‘I love my brother.’”

“You can’t make me do that!” 

“Oh, yes I can.  You
will
behave, and you will start now!”  Susan knew that if she let them get away with fighting
on her wedding day, they’d always think they could run all over her.  It wasn’t going
to work that way.  She was their mother now, whether deception had been used or not,
and she would see to their discipline if it killed her.  “Do you both understand me?” 
The boys nodded, and she watched as they joined hands.  “Let’s go join the others.”

She made the boys lead the way so she could watch and see if they dropped hands. 
She walked back to the front of the house and joined David who was talking to a man
and his wife.  David saw her slip up beside him and raised an eyebrow at her in question
of what she’d done.  She simply shrugged and smiled at the woman across from her. 
“Hi.  I’m Susan.”

The woman smiled as she noted the boys holding hands and looking miserable.  “I’m
Beverly Smith.  We have the ranch that shares your south border.”
  Beverly was a petite red head with a pretty smile.

“It’s very nice to meet you.  Do you have children?”  Susan engaged Beverly in conversation,
asking her questions about herself and watching the boys out of the corner of her
eye. 

“I have three girls.  They’re six, four and two.”

Susan noticed the boys drop hands.  “Excuse me for just a moment,” she muttered and
strode over to the boys.  “That’s your first twenty sentences each.  How long do you
think it will take you to reach one hundred?”

The boys quickly joined hands again, and she walked back to Beverly and her husband. 
“Sorry.  I need to let them know who’s in charge.”

Beverly laughed softly.  “Those boys have needed someone to let them know who’s in
charge for a long time.”  She squeezed Susan’s arm.  “You’re going to be very good
for them.”

Susan smiled.  “Either that or I’ll kill us all trying to turn them into well-behaved
boys.  They
can
behave.  I’ve seen it.  So they will.”
  The look in Susan’s eye left Beverly in no doubt that she would have the boys behaving
like little gentlem
e
n within a month.

“I really think I’m going to like you.  Would you like to come over for coffee and
cookies one afternoon next week?  After you’ve had a chance to settle in?
  Maybe Wednesday?
”

“I’d like that a lot.  It’ll be nice to have a friend in Texas.  Maybe it’ll help
me not be so homesick.”
  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Susan realized she really was homesick. 
She missed her parents and Elizabeth a lot.  She needed to sit down and write them
a letter as she’d promised.

“Where are you from?”

“I was raised on a small farm outside of Beckham, Massachusetts.  It’s different here.”

“I was raised in Pennsylvania, so I know what you mean.”

“How long did it take you to get used to the scorching heat?” Susan asked as she rubbed
her hand along the back of her neck to wipe away the sweat that was pooling there. 

Beverly shook her head.  “I don’t think you ever get used to it.  You learn to bear
it, but that’s all you can expect of yourself.”

“How did you end up in Texas?”

“My husband was travelling and he came into a restaurant I worked in as a waitress. 
He sat at my table and I served him lunch.  He was lonely, and asked if I’d show him
around town.  When he left town I left with him as his wife.”

Susan smiled.  “I like that story.  How long did you know one another before you married?”
  Beverly’s story was certainly more romantic than her own.  She’d shown up ready
to marry and her bridegroom was dead so she’d settled for his brother.  No, there
wasn’t much romance in her story.

“Three weeks.  My mother was not happy with me.”

Susan laughed.  “Imagine how my mother felt when I said I was moving across the country
to marry a total stranger.”

“I’m surprised they let you go.”

Susan shrugged.  “I’m the oldest of twelve.  I’ve always been very independent, and
I think they knew if they tried to stop me, I’d leave anyway.”  She realized then
the men had stopped talking and were listening to them.  She looked at David.

He took her hand and smiled down at her as if there were nothing wrong between them. 
“Charles, this is my wife, Susan.  Susan, my closest friend and our closest neighbor,
Charles Smith.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Susan replied.  She noted that Charles was tall, although
not as tall as David.  He had blond hair and blue eyes.  He wore a cowboy hat with
his suit.  She wondered if all men did that here, because David had worn the same
thing for their wedding.  They both wore cowboy boots as well.

Charles nodded at her, his hand slipping around his wife’s waist.  “We’ll have to
get together sometime soon.  Find a night when your nanny can stay with your boys,
though.  I don’t need your wild boys around my sweet girls.”

“I’m really hoping Susan will have a calming influence on the boys,” David told him.

Susan looked around, realizing she hadn’t seen the boys for a minute or two.  Finally
she spotted them off in the corner with the twins and Mrs. Hackenshleimer.  Their
hands were still linked, and she smiled.  “I hope so too.  I’m not going to be able
to put up with their shenanigans for long.”

Charles grinned.  “I can’t say David, Jesse and I were any better when we were boys.” 
He looked at David.  “Do you remember when your mother banned us from ever playing
together again?  What had we done that time?”

David’s face lit up with a smile.  “I think that was the time we tied the two cats’
tails together and then threw a bucket of water on them.”  He laughed out loud.  “I’ll
never forget the sound those cats made.”

Susan shook her head in disbelief.  No wonder the boys were so bad.  They took after
their father.  She saw Sadie waving to her from the dining room and quietly excused
herself to go talk to the housekeeper. 

“Lunch is ready.”

Susan nodded.  “Thank you, Sadie.  I know this is going to seem odd, but for today,
will you serve the boys in the kitchen?  The two oldest have to continue holding hands
even while they eat.”

Sadie’s eyes widened and she grinned.  “I heard they were fighting in the street on
your wedding day.  That’s a fitting punishment.”

“I’d prefer to take a switch to them, but David says he won’t allow that, so I’ll
just have to get clever with my punishments.”
  The narrowing of Susan’s eyes left Sadie in no doubt that she was up for the task.