Orphan Train Romance 1 - 5 (24 page)

“No.  I would have chosen you for myself.”

Anna gasped at his news and jumped up quickly, pulling her hand from his.  Sage woke up at that moment, sat up and looked around.  She rubbed her eyes and looked up at Anna.

“Do we have to go back now?” she asked sleepily with a slight whine in her voice.

“Not yet,” Alex answered her, but still looked at Anna with regret in his eyes.  “Why don’t we go for a short walk?” he suggested to the child and stood up to take her hand.

Sage readily agreed to the suggestion and Anna watched them walk away.  She sat back down on the quilt and thought about what she had learned.

She could not believe how much she opened up to Alex.  She had told him things she had never told anyone before.  This surprised her.  Shouldn’t she have wanted to wait and tell Luke, if he changed his mind about marrying her?

For the first time, she admitted to herself that she did not want to marry Luke.  He didn’t want to marry her anyway.  What Alex did wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but he had Luke’s best interests at heart.  She could not fault him for that. 

She admitted to herself that she felt something for him.  Almost every time she looked at him, her heart seemed to skip a beat.  When he looked at her, she felt something she had never felt before.  Almost every time he looked directly at her, there was something in his eyes that seemed to speak to her heart.

She still felt she needed to talk to Luke before she made any other plans.  She wondered how long he was going to be gone.  She decided she would stay and continue to work as a housekeeper on the ranch and care for Sage until Luke came back.  She would then try to talk to him, but she would also plan on making other arrangements because it was obvious Luke left because she was at the ranch.  She did not want to make Luke uncomfortable in having her around.  She decided she would ask Alex to help her find other living arrangements and another job to go to when Luke came back.

Alex and Sage soon returned from their short walk.  Sage was back to her usual talkative self and she was insistent that they not go back to the ranch until they read the Bible.  After all, it was God’s day.

Sage settled herself down on Anna’s lap and listened intently as Anna told her the story of Jonah from the Bible.  Sage had a hard time understanding how someone could try to hide from God and get eaten by a big fish.  The only fish she knew of in her small world was trout that was found in the nearby rivers and creeks.  Finally, she agreed that God can do anything, including make a large fish swallow a man and soon lost interest in the story. 

“We need to start back to the ranch, Sage,” Alex finally told the girl.  “It’s getting close to chore time.”

They walked back leisurely, but quicker than that morning.  Back at the ranch house, Anna immediately started on dinner with Sage’s help, and Alex went to the barn to start on the evening chores.  Paul had returned and was out in the barn with Alex.  As Anna made dinner and directed Sage’s attention to the box of blocks, she admitted to herself that she felt content with her life and her job as the housekeeper for the moment.  She loved her new life in the mountains and flowery meadows of Montana.

****

The next day, Sage was cranky and Anna felt she might be coming down with a cold because she had a runny nose.  Anna still kept her word about making a new dress for the child.  After breakfast, she took one of her dresses, and using Sage’s one dress as a pattern, cut out the material for a new larger dress.  She spent the morning stitching the pieces together while Sage played with her blocks and a cloth doll.  Soon Anna had to stop her sewing and care for the child as she seemed to grow sicker. 

After lunch, Anna encouraged the girl to lay down on her bed and rest while Anna read to her out of a storybook.  After a few minutes, Sage’s eyes closed, and Anna breathed a sigh of relief.  She hoped the girl wouldn’t get too sick while her father was gone.  She sat by Sage for a while watching her sleep.  She felt a regret that she might not get to be her mother.  She had developed a strong love for the girl in the short time she had been at the ranch.  Anna gently brushed some hair away from Sage’s face and then covered her with a light quilt.  She sat in a chair near Sage and continued working on the small dress. 

A few hours later, Anna left Sage sleeping in her room and went into the kitchen for a drink of water.  As she pumped water into a glass, she looked out of the kitchen window, and saw Alex in a fenced yard with a horse.  It looked like he was doing some training.  She suddenly had the desire to go watch.

She went outside and walked to the fenced yard.  She leaned against the wooden rails and watched Alex with the horse.  The animal was beautiful.  It was reddish in color with a black mane and tail.  Its eyes were open wide almost in fright as it watched Alex who swung a circled rope to catch the horse around the neck. 

The horse reared up on its front legs in protest.  Alex quietly talked to the animal and soon it was calm.  Over the next hour, Anna watched quietly as Alex continued to work with the horse.  By the time he decided the lesson was over, he had been able to introduce the bit into the mouth.

****

Alex led the horse to the gate in the fence and opened it.  He looked over towards Anna as he gave the reins to a hired hand. 

“Put her back with the other horses,” he ordered and then walked towards Anna.

“I enjoyed watching you with that horse,” Anna commented as he got closer to her.  “So are you training it to be a cattle horse?”

“She’s mare,” Alex nodded.  “I’m hoping she can be trained as one, but Luke wants a horse for Sage to ride.  She might be calm enough for her.”

“Where did you get her?  Did you capture it from the mountains?” Anna asked as she looked at a nearby field that held at least five horses in it.

“Yep, she’s a mountain horse.”

Alex leaned against the fence.  He enjoyed watching her as she talked.  He could tell she was very interested in how the ranch was run, what went on in the different parts of it, and who did what.  Her eyes lit up as she talked and she looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her. 

He reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her mouth and she stopped talking abruptly. 

“You like it here, don’t you,” Alex made the question as a statement.

Anna nodded, keeping her eyes on his, looking as confused as he felt.  Suddenly he wondered what it would be like to kiss her, something he had been wondering ever since he picked her up at the train station. He gazed at her mouth and started to lean forward.  Anna leaned toward him also, making him wonder if she wanted the same thing.  Then she suddenly gasped and stepped back a few paces. 

“What are you doing?” Anna asked him.  “You can’t….”

“Anna, we need to talk,” Alex told her, deciding that in this instance honesty was the best policy. 

“Sage…” Anna looked toward the house and stepped further away.

“If she needs you, we will hear her,” Alex responded.

“What…what do you want to talk about?” Anna asked, her voice betraying her nervousness.

“About us, about Luke.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Anna protested, stepping even further away.

Alex started to walk towards her.  “Anna, please.”

She stopped and looked at him very intently, and then finally nodded her agreement.

“I would like to take Luke’s place.  I would like you to consider marrying me instead.”

Anna looked shocked.  “But I came to Montana to marry Luke.  You brought me here to marry Luke.”

“I know that was the intent.  But you do realize he isn’t going to change his mind.  He doesn’t want to marry again.”

“Do you know when he will return?” Anna questioned.

“He’s been gone almost a week.  Probably only a few more days.  He doesn’t like to be away from Sage much longer than a week at a time.”

“I want to talk to him first.  I came here to be his mail order bride.  I don’t feel like I can make any new decisions until I hear it from him that he doesn’t want to marry me.”

Alex sighed.  He had to admire her decision.  It showed that she was very loyal and stuck to her commitments.  He wished again that he had written to her as himself instead of Luke. 

“I don’t think we should talk about this again,” Anna said and turned to go back into the ranch house. 

Alex watched her until she was half way to the house, then he ran to catch up to her. 

“Anna,” he called and stopped in front of her, making her stop in her steps.  She refused to look at him which he found very interesting.

“Anna,” he said again.  “After Luke returns and you talk to him, can we talk again?”

Alex looked at her intently as he spoke, trying to judge what she was feeling, what she was thinking.  What he saw pleased him.  Her face seemed flushed and she still wouldn’t look at him.  He could tell she wasn’t immune to him.  He wished he had kissed her anyway, just to see what her reaction would have been.  She nodded her assent, stepped around him, and practically ran into the house.

Alex watched her with a small smile on his face.  If Luke didn’t come home soon, he was going up into the mountains to talk to him.

Sage woke up from her nap with a slight fever.  She complained that her throat hurt worse and so did her head.  By evening, she started to develop a harsh cough.  Anna stayed up most of the night caring for her.  A few hours before morning, her cough was sounding so bad, Anna reluctantly left Sage and ran the short distance to the small house where Paul and Alex were sleeping.

She knocked loudly on the door multiple times until it finally swung open.  Paul stood there looking like he had quickly dressed in order to answer the door.

“I’m sorry to wake you, but Sage isn’t doing well.  She’s coughing and…” She stopped talking as Paul stepped outside. 

“I’ll come help.  Alex is still asleep.  He is such a deep sleeper, he can sleep through anything.  I’ll come with you and see what’s going on.  We can wake him up if we need him.”

Back in the main house, Paul immediately could tell that Sage just had a bad cold.  He showed Anna how to make a poultice of herbs to put on her chest.  Sage soon stopped coughing and settled down in a deep sleep for the first time all night.

“I’m so glad you knew what to do,” Anna said as she and Paul sat at the kitchen table.  There was only an hour before daylight and she figured her chance to sleep was gone for the time being.  She had started a pot of coffee on the stove and they sat at the table to wait for it to boil. 

“Sage doesn’t get sick very often, but when she does, she seems to always get this type of cough.  The doctor in town taught us how to make the poultice and it always seems to help.”

They chatted quietly for a few minutes and then Anna asked him about the girl he had gone to visit on Sunday.

“Tell me about her,” Anna invited wondering how interested he was in this woman.  She was surprised when he shook his head.

“I don’t want to talk about her,” he briskly told her.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Anna apologized wishing she had kept her mouth shut.  She was just trying to get to know this brother of Alex’s a little better.

Paul covered her hand with his own and patted it in a brotherly gesture.  “It’s okay.  Don’t worry about it.  I just found out Sunday that she isn’t as interested in me as I was in her.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again, but this time with sympathy.  “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Maybe I should just send away for a wife like Alex did for Luke.”  Paul seemed to try to make things light with a joke.

“I don’t think Luke wants to marry me,” Anna admitted.

“Well, Luke is a fool, but I’m not surprised.”

“It’s okay, really.  I would rather marry someone who wants me for me.”

“Don’t you have a sister or friend or someone who would want to come marry me and live on the ranch?” Paul asked in a joking tone of voice.

Anna almost dismissed his words, but then stopped and looked at him.  “Are you serious?”

Paul looked taken back at her words.  “Why?”

“I have two friends who I think of as sisters.  We grew up together in the orphanage and all three of us were taken in by families in the same town in Texas.”

Paul looked hopeful.  “So you are saying…?”

“I could write to them and see if one of them would want to come and marry you.”

Paul hesitated, then nodded his agreement.  “I am ready to settle down.  It’s time I have a wife and family.  I thought this rancher’s daughter would be willing, but she chose someone else.”

“I have a letter I have been working on ever since I arrived here, a little bit each night.  I will finish it today and I will mention your offer.  Someone will need to run it to town to be mailed.”

“I will take care of it.  Just let me know when it is ready.”  Paul stood up and set his mug in the sink.  “I don’t think you got enough sleep last night.  Why don’t you get some rest?  I will care for Sage.“

Anna started to argue, but then agreed with him.  She did feel very tired and a few hours of sleep sounded like heaven.  “Let me know if you need my help when she wakes.”

She left the kitchen and went into her room.  After preparing for bed, she laid down and briefly thought over the events of the last few hours.  She hoped Sage would be doing better soon.  She felt a little frustration towards Luke.  He should be here with Sage.  In her opinion, he was acting very selfish in leaving the ranch like he did.  She wondered if he did this often, taking off into the mountains to care for the cattle, leaving Sage behind for so long. 

****

Anna woke up around lunchtime.  She quickly found Sage was doing better.  Both Alex and Paul were at the table eating a simple meal.  Sage looked a little pale, but she was drinking some milk and eating a crust of bread.  Anna took that as a good sign since she had hardly eaten anything the day before.

Both men greeted her as she sat down at the table.  Alex pushed a plate of meat sandwiches toward her and she picked up a piece.  “Thanks for taking care of her last night,” Alex said as he looked at her intently as if trying to get her to understand something else. 

Anna nodded and took a bite of food.  “I didn’t mind.  I am glad she is doing better.  That poultice seemed to help.”

“It usually does,” Paul said and got up from the table.  “I am going to go work on some fences.”  He left the house.

“I would like to plant some vegetables today,” Anna commented.  She had talked to Alex about planting a garden a few days ago and he had promised to have a plot of land ready for her that day.

“It’s all ready to go,” Alex responded.  “Do you need some help?”

“I’m not sure.  I don’t know a lot about planting, but I think I can figure it out.”

“I can help you if you would like.  We can have Sage sit under the tree in the yard.  We should keep her quiet today because of her cough, but I think it is warm enough for her to be outside.”

Anna placed Sage on a blanket in the shade of a tree with a few story books and a handful of blocks.  The child soon fell asleep.  Alex showed Anna the best way to plant the seeds.  She had chosen beans, peas, carrots, corn, tomatoes, lettuce and a few types of squash, along with potatoes. 

Anna actually enjoyed the planting.  She enjoyed working with the dirt and placing the seeds in the ground.  She knew that in a few weeks there would be small plants growing, and soon after that, they would be able to start eating fresh vegetables.

When they were almost finished, Anna looked over at Alex as he planted the last of the corn seeds.  She felt a familiar stirring in her heart when she looked at him.  He was bent over, his cowboy hat shading his face from the sun and partially concealing his face from her, but she didn’t need to see him to know what he looked like.  She loved how his dark hair curled a bit under the hat.  She knew men wore cowboy hats to shade their faces from the sun, but she felt deep inside men wore them because they knew how attractive the hats made them to women. 

She couldn’t resist her next move.  She picked up a dirt clod and threw it at his back.  She immediately regretted it.  What was she doing, flirting with him when she was essentially promised to his brother?

Alex froze, and then stood, turning around slowly.  He looked at her, and then a big smile spread across his face.  He took two steps toward her.

Anna held up her hands.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have done that,” she stammered as she apologized.  Alex continued to walk towards her and stopped right in front of her.  He touched her face lightly, brushing some dirt from her cheek.

“You are not going to marry Luke.  After my brother returns and we get this mess straightened out, I am going to ask you to marry me.”  Alex said and leaned down, lightly kissing her on the cheek where he had just touched and then he kissed her on her lips. 

Anna’s arms almost involuntarily reached up and went around his neck to encourage the kiss.  It felt like heaven to finally be in his arms, enjoying his kiss.  Was it wrong to want to be in his arms, to let him kiss her?  Then suddenly she gasped and stepped back.  They stood looking at each other for a few moments.  She then turned, picked up a sleeping Sage from under the tree, and ran into the ranch house.

Alex stared after her and then slowly shook his head.  He bent down to pick up the various gardening tools they had used in order to put them away.  In the barn, he put the tools in their place and then suddenly lightly punched the barn wall.  He felt very frustrated with Luke.  He admitted to himself that he brought Anna here for Luke, but for the first time he realized he really brought Anna here for himself. 

Luke didn’t want to marry again, and that was fine.  Alex would marry Anna instead.  He had enjoyed exchanging the few letters with her.  He remembered his first look at her when she got off the train.  She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  He had enjoyed the time he had getting to know her.  He admired how she had just jumped in and got the house in order so quickly.  She was kind with Sage.   He had seen the half-finished dress she was working on for the child. 

He did not regret kissing Anna.  He learned something from that brief kiss.  He was not the only one feeling this.

He spent the rest of the day and evening in the barn.  A few of the horses needed new shoes, so he took care of that chore.  He then cleaned the barn so that it looked the best it had been in a long time.  He did not go into the house for dinner and Anna sent Paul out with a plate of food.  His brother tried to talk to him, but Alex brushed him aside. 

Luke had been gone for over a week.  He had never been gone longer than that, except for the time he had been gone a month after he burned all of Pamela’s belongings.  Alex made the decision that if Luke did not return by lunchtime the next day, he was going to head to the shack in the mountains and insist on talking with him.