Mail Order Mistake (16 page)

Malinda shook her head.  “My mother died when I was eleven.”
 

“Oh no!  I’m sorry to hear that.  I don’t know what I’d have done without my mother. 
She’s taught me so much.”

“My sister Ellen taught me what I needed to know.  Have you met her?  She married
Patrick Harris
,
the banker.”
  Malinda had
thought of Ellen as half mother,
half sister all her life.

Beatrice thought for a moment and then shrugged.  “I really don’t think I’ve met her. 
In the time I’ve been here
,
I’ve been so sad that I haven’t really noticed a lot of the people around me.”  She
sighed.  “I know it’s no excuse, but I’ve distanced myself from everyone.  I need
to start working at becoming part of the community.”

Malinda nodded.  “No, I understand what you mean.  My father died a couple of months
before we moved here.  My sister just kept going, still working as hard as ever and
talking to everyone like she was fine.  I walked around as if I was in the middle
of a
dense
fog.  I couldn’t
do anything I was supposed to do.”  She slid the first batch of cookies into the oven
and sat down.

Beatrice moved to sit across from her.  “That’s exactly how I felt.”  She looked down
at her hands.  “I just wanted to die along with my baby.  I don’t feel like it’s fair
that I lived and he didn’t.”

Malinda took Beatrice’s hand in hers.  “We don’t know what God has in mind from this,
but there must be a reason.”

Beatrice sighed.  “For a while, I even lost faith in God.”

“I understand.”  Malinda jumped at a knock on the door.  “Excuse me.”  She wasn’t
expecting anyone, so she cautiously opened the door.

“You the woman who sews?”  The man in front of her was the miner she and Ellen had
described on the train.  His gray beard came to his waistband, and he looked as if
he hadn’t bathed in months. 
His stench made her want to back up, but she stood her ground.

Malinda nodded tentatively.  “Yes, I am.”

“I needs me some new shirts.  Five of them.”  He held up a bundle under his arm. 
“I have all the stuff
, but I needs you to measure me
and makes the shirts.”

“Yes, of course.”  She looked over her shoulder at Beatrice.  “Do you mind?”
  She was half afraid the other woman would leave rather than be in a house with the
miner.

Beatrice shook her head.

Malinda was thankful the other woman was there.  She didn’t think she’d be able to
let this smelly man into her house without someone else there with them.  She opened
the door wide and let him into the house, taking him back to the spare bedroom she’d
set up as her sewing room.  She got her measuring tape and measured him, noting his
measurements on a piece of paper she kept on hand.

“When do you need the shirts by?”
 

“Week from Saturdy.”

Malinda’s head jerked up.  “That’s not much time.”
  She’d have to work fast and hard to get them done that fast. 

“I’ll pays an extry dollar if you can have ‘em done then.”

“I charge a dollar per shirt,” Malinda told him, glancing up to see if that was too
much for him.
  She didn’t really care.  To get that many shirts done in such a short amount of
time, she’d need to be paid that much.  She’d be losing sleep over these shirts of
his.

“Fine.  You haves ‘em done on time, I pays you six.”

Malinda smiled.  “You have yourself a deal.  Come by during the afternoon and I’ll
have them ready.”  Her mind was already at work about how to make the most of her
sewing time. 

The miner didn’t say another word before leaving.  Malinda stood for a minute and
watched him go
,
and then turned to Beatrice.  “He was certainly interesting.  I’m so glad you were
here!”
  She rushed back over to the table to continue helping Beatrice.

Beatrice grinned.  She’d removed the cookies from the oven and added more.  “Me too. 
It would have been downright frightening to be alone with a man like that.”

“I know!  I should have arranged to meet him in a public place when I gave him the
shirts.”
  She bit her lip.  She could ask Wesley to be sure he was home the afternoon the
man came back, but she wasn’t sure how he’d feel about that. 

“I’ll come back Saturday afternoon.”

“Oh, would you?”
  Malinda breathed a sigh of relief.  Beatrice coming back was the perfect solution. 
She wouldn’t be alone with him, and she wouldn’t have to bother her husband to be
home either.

Beatrice smiled.  “For my new friend?  Anything.”

*****

They’d been married three months when he came home from work one day to find the bed
unmade and dishes in the sink.  Dinner wasn’t ready either.  Wesley went into the
spare room to find Malinda.  She had shirt pieces spread everywhere.  “Dinner?” he
asked.

She looked up.  “I’m sorry!  I lost track of time.  I need to have these done by tomorrow
afternoon, and I still have quite a bit to do.”
  She put the
pieces
she was basting together down and stood to rush to the kitchen to fix dinner.

Wesley followed her, angrier than he’d been in a long time.  “I know you
think you need to work to make extra money, but neglecting your real responsibilities
is not acceptable.  If I don’t make enough money for you, then you shouldn’t have
agreed to marry me!”

She turned to face him, her breath ragged as she fought back the tears.  “I’m sorry
dinner wasn’t ready.  I married you because I couldn’t see myself married to anyone
else.”
  How could he not understand she loved him?

“So why do you think you need to make money all the time?  Why can’t you be content
with what we have?  And why did you feel the need to hide the fact that you weren’t
content?”

She spun on her heel and continued into the kitchen.  He was being unreasonable. 
She pulled the eggs off the shelf to make them omelets for dinner.  She didn’t care
what he thought, he was getting
an omelet
.

“Eggs?  You’re making me eggs for dinner?  Eggs are for breakfast
!
”
  Wesley’s voice was raised in a yell by this time.  He seemed willing to pick a fight
about anything.

She calmly picked up the first egg, turned and took aim, hitting the middle of his
forehead.  Turning around, she picked up another and had it in her hand ready to throw. 
“Any other complaints?” 

Wesley stood there breathing hard with egg dripping off his forehead.  He was so fed
up with the way she put him behind making money he was ready to scream.  “What is
your problem?”

She let fly her next missile, hitting him again in the middle of the forehead.
  She wasn’t going to stop until he stopped yelling at her.

Wesley’s eyes widened as she turned and picked up another egg.  He wasn’t just going
to stand there and be her target.  He walked slowly toward her, reaching out and grabbing
her shoulders.  “You’re going to stop throwing eggs.  They cost money, you know.”

Malinda let out a short scream.  “You are the most unreasonable man I’ve ever met
in my life!”  She took the egg in her hand and crushed it into the front of his shirt. 
“And you can wash that out yourself!”
  He was the most belligerent, unreasonable man she had met in her entire life.  Why
did she love him?

Wesley stood staring down at his wife, fighting the urge to beat her.  He’d never
in his life wanted to hit a woman, but it was all he could think about doing right
then.  “I’m unreasonable?  You spend every waking moment trying to make money, and
you just wasted three eggs
!
”

Malinda reached out to push him away from her.  “
I can’t talk to you when you’re like this.”  She turn
ed back toward the work table, putting her palms flat on it and taking a deep breath
to try to control her anger.

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face him.  “Don’t turn your back
on me.”

“Then how am I supposed to cook you dinner?” she screeched.  She knew she sounded
like a hoyden, but at that point she just didn’t care. 

He stood for a moment taking deep breaths, trying to control his temper.  Finally
he leaned down and took her mouth in an angry kiss.

Malinda pushed against him. 
How could he possibly think I want to kiss him now?
She stomped on his foot to get him to let her go.

He tightened his arms around her and pulled her closer against him, putting all his
anger into the kiss.  His hands stroked up and down her back, one of them trailing
down to her backside, pulling her against him.

Malinda let out a low groan.  She was so angry with him, and yet she was still enjoying
this.  What was wrong with her?  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him
back.

As soon as Wesley realized she was responding to him, he turned her around so her
back was to the table and lifted her up to sit on the edge of it.  He fought to pull
her skirts up and over her waist, pushing the
m
out of the way.
  His fingers went to her underwear and he
opened the placket and
pushed the
fabric
to the side, gaining access to her soft hot flesh.  He stroked his finger inside
her for a moment to test her readiness, and then his hands went to work on the front
of his pants. 

Once he was free, he guided himself to her, looking into her eyes as he pushed inside
her. 

Malinda was panting as she stared up at him
, her hands flat on the table behind her to catch her weight
. 
How had their argument turned into this?

There was no tenderness this time, from either of them.  She dug her nails into his
shoulders through his shirt.  His thrusts were hard and fast.  As soon as she climaxed,
he let himself go
and shouted in release. 

It took them both a moment to realize where they were and what they’d done.  She blushed
as he stepped away from her and fastened his pants. 
S
he
quickly
pushed her skirts down and looked away.  “Are omelets okay for dinner tonight?”
  She was surprised her voice sounded so steady when what they’d just done had shaken
her.

“Omelets are fine.”  He knew he should probably bring up what they’d argued about,
but he was hungry and he just didn’t want to fight anymore.

While they ate, he brought up the subject of her working again.  “I guess I don’t
mind you taking in sewing jobs if you don’t hide it from me, and you can do it around
household chores.  Coming home to no dinner after a long day at work is hard.”

She nodded.  “I am sorry I didn’t have dinner ready.  I probably took on a little
too much with how soon the miner I’m working for needs these shirts done.  I’ll be
more careful about that in the future.”
  She had known at the time she wouldn’t be able to finish fast enough, but the promise
of an extra dollar had been too much enticement for her.

He took her hand across the table.  “I’m sorry I got so angry with you.”

She looked at him, and although he’d washed up and changed his shirt, she could still
see some eggshells in his hair.  She did her best to keep her face straight.  “I’m
really afraid of something happening to you and being left destitute.  When Father
died, we had no idea we were in such a bad position financially.  A banker came and
told us we had to leave our home.”
  She looked down as she said the words, embarrassed that she’d once been in that
position.

He nodded slowly.  “Ellen told me.  I always wondered why you didn’t.”

She shrugged.  “I guess I didn’t want you to worry about how I would feel about the
money you make.  I am scared, though.  I want to have a nest egg saved up in case
something happens.  It will make me feel safer and more secure.”
  She didn’t know how to explain it beyond that.  She didn’t need a lot of money,
she just needed enough money.

He squeezed the hand he was still holding.  “I can understand that.  You don’t think
Patrick would let you go without if something were to happen to me, though, do you?”

She shook her head.  “No, I don’t.  I know Ellen wouldn’t.  I just can’t seem to get
over the fear I have.  I don’t want to have to rely on the generosity of others. 
I want to be able to stand on my own feet.”
  After what had happened before, she
needed
to be able to make it on her own.

“We’ll save what we can then.  I wish you’d felt comfortable enough to talk to me
about this before now.”

She looked down at her plate.  “It’s hard to admit just how low Ellen and I had sunk
before we came here.  Did you know we had to stay with Harriett for a few weeks while
we waited for you and Patrick to return our letters?”