led Alexandria into a pew. He seated himself on her left to allow Anna to sit beside her and Alexandria watched as Jonathon hesitated before seating himself beside Anna somewhat cautiously. Poor Mr. Stewart, he had no idea what he was in for, Alexandria mused as the first notes of music started from the front of the church.
Chapter Two
Jonathon considered himself to be a perceptive man, seeing things for what they were and calling them as such. He evoked in others a sense of confidence he himself didn’t quite understand. He mused on this as he watched Elijah’s young wife pin laundry to the clothes line. She was tall and slender, so delicately turned that she looked as though a strong wind should bend her to the ground like a young sapling.
Elijah had shared his tumultuous thoughts with Jonathon over the few weeks he had been there and he found himself torn between understanding and compassion for the older man and frustration at him for how little thought he gave his wife. Whatever Elijah’s reasons for marrying the young woman, she deserved common courtesy from her husband.
Alexandria glanced up at him as though aware of his scrutiny and he noted how flat her eyes were as he nodded a greeting and stood; he should get back to his chores. It couldn’t be easy to realize that the man you shard your bed and life with wasn’t in love with you; he could remember how excited and full of dreams Emily had been when they married. He glanced back at Alexandria one last time. Her back was now to him as she worked; her long hair hung in a single braid down her back like that of a schoolgirl. Just how old was she anyway?
He entered the barn and moved toward a group of men who were moving a stack of crates Elijah wanted relocated. The men had easily accepted him and included him in their joking and talk. Oddly enough, though most were close to him in age and couple even older; he felt much older than them.
“I don’t know why the boss married her but he sure don’t take much interest in her now,” Sparky commented as he handed a crate off to Russ. Jonathon had noted the Sparky often surreptitiously watched the boss’s wife but never crossed the line into inappropriate familiarity.
“Well if he aint gonna pay her no mind I will,” Nick crudely joked.
“Hey now,” Sparky stood to his full height and glared at the stockier hand opposite him. Sparky was young, best Jonathon could tell, and quick tempered, though he usually brought it under wraps before it got him into any real trouble.
“Eli’ll have your hide if he hears you talking like that and I just might help him,” Russ added to the fray. Russ was closer to Jonathon in age perhaps a couple of years older than the others and seemed to have a level head on his shoulders.
“What Elijah don’t know won’t hurt him,” Nick countered. Nick was cocky to a fault and seemed to have little scruples if his behavior since Jonathon’s arrival was any indication.
“Your Ma not teach you how to treat a lady?” Jonathon was now standing behind Nick. Nick turned to him in surprise and seemed to size him up. The man visibly relaxed his shoulder and offered him an insolent grin.
“Oh no hurt in lookin and talkin, is there?”
“There is if it disrespects a lady,” Jonathon countered.
“Fine,” Nick hefted another crate and fell into a brooding silence.
“Need a hand?” Jonathon offered.
“Thanks; appreciate that,” Sparky offered a friendly smile.
Alexandria flipped her empty laundry basket upside down on the ground beside the line and turned to enter the house. She needed to alter her dress for church this Sunday; at least she assumed they would go. Elijah had been sporadic in attendance since their marriage but he had said something about going so she would plan as though they were.
She had lost weight since her move to the ranch and didn’t want it to be immediately obvious to her mother come Sunday morning. Her mother was always fussing that she was too thin as it was. Both her older sister, Catherine, and younger sister, Anna were well rounded in all the womanly places and more fashionable in height. Catherine had taken the men of their community on a wild ride before she had up and married a California business man who was in town on business. Alexandria suspected that Anna would